Housing news is bad - less people buying, prices dropping – which is good for landlords, but bad for renters. We rent. So that one day, we can buy. In a place we want to settle. (Not the Bay Area, despite its pleasant climate.) San Jose (CA) rent has gone up over 11% this year. Yowza. I’m glad we found a place with thin walls and asbestos in the ceiling.
What kind of sacrifice would you make for cheaper rent? I’ve been thinking about this lately. Maybe downsize apartments (from a 1-bedroom to a studio), which would mean less entertaining of friends (not that we do a whole lot of that now…cheap 1-bedrooms aren’t really known for their expansive living area). But would the monthly savings be enough that we could afford to splurge on the occasional dinner out with friends, rather than cooking a lasagna at home and crowding into the diner booth in our kitchen?
Right now, we are the “cheap” friends. We always ask about the price fo the restaurant before we go, and most of our eating out is done on nights when we know we can get 1/2 price entrees or some other deal.
Once you get over the initial (mildly embarrassing, in a money=status based part of the world) cheapie labelling, it’s not so bad. And after a while, it becomes almost comforting being the Cheapies. It helps to weed out any acquaintances who are mainly impressed by things instead of thoughts.
My youngest sister went through a phase where she wrote favourite quotes on her bedroom walls (I wrote my teenage favourite quotes on notebook covers–easier to paint over), and my favourite of her wall tattoos was:
“Those who matter, won’t care. Those who care, don’t matter.”
I could have the syntax mixed up, but the main point remains the same.People who are worth it should not care if you want to
- eat somewhere cheaper,
- buy something non-namebrand,
- buy something secondhand,
- buy nothing and fix the holes,
- stay home and rent a flick instead of dropping a Hamilton (or a Macdonald, if you are in Canada) on the newest Jennifer Aniston movie at the multi-plex
- share or trade what you have,
and so on.
Sure, maybe this is easy to say, now that I’m out of middle/high school (where people kept tabs on what you wore, and knew if you wore the same outfit twice in one week), and no longer working an intern job that was a whole lot like the previews for that Devil Wears Prada movie (still in theatres, so I have not seen it).
T-shirt and jeans is an acceptable uniform for online student, photographer and webpage coder, so I can afford to be a Cheapie. Right now, at least. And knowing that the downpayment savings account grows a little bit every time i *don’t* buy something that will wear out and/or go out of style helps me sleep soundly, despite the overhead asbestos* ceiling.
****Update**** Krissy has the wording for the wall quote:
“People who mind don’t matter and people who matter don’t mind.”
Thanks K.
*Don’t worry, I haven’t drilled any holes in it, and I have read the risks. And I know asbestos risks are not a laughing matter. But they are good for keeping rent low.
