Renters, fasten your seatbelts. Cheapies, wear your (un)labels with pride.
August 24, 2006Housing 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.
in order to get cheaper rent.. the one thing i will not sacrifice is location. This is one luxury that I don’t think I’m willing to part with anymore. I will give you two scenarios, and discuss my reasoning.
Scenario 1. The Status Quo – live downtown
pros
I currently live downtown, about 5 minutes walk from work, and less than that to the local street-of-choice, Elgin.
I walk to get drinks, to work, to get groceries. I walk to the canal to excercise and for the ritual of watching my k9 execute a 3/4 turn, eject some refuse, which then is neatly folded into a biodegradable dog bag.
I ride my bike to play sports games one night a week, and I can now walk quickly over a bridge to school, if I enroll again this fall.
My neighborhood is pretty, full of trees, not sketchy, and generally very safe.
I have a nice view.
downtown = freedom of movement
cons
The rent in this scenario is just low enough that I can get by, and pay bills, but not low enough to allow for rental of a studio (or an apartment big enough to have a studio). I also can’t make many major pruchases.
I can’t own a car, which makes travel OUT of the city difficult, and picking up major purchases a hassle. (This latter is less of an issue, see con #1)
Scenario 2 – Live in the Ottawa Bouroughs
pros
backyard and potential studio, cheaper (or comparable) rent and bigger place
less noise from “crazy city life”
could probably have a car, or at least a bus pass, and could afford more things
cons
less walking and excercise means I might have to shell out for a gym membership or something
taking the bus to work is crummy and time consuming, basically eating away at the free time I have that I use to compose longwinded responses to freinds’ blog postings.
more “things” means more things to clean, insure, and probably break.
also, would have to put up with “crazy less-urban people”..
Various external factors in this case have led me to the conclusion that I will not be willing to sacrifice location for cheaper rent (even if that means buying property… possibly because I have no interest in buying a home in Ottawa at this particular moment in time…)
I am however willing to sacrifice most other luxuries, particularly branded things, in order to stay here. I reccomend that you read The Rebel Sell, which is a book I recently read, which has a lot more sarcasm than needed, but is generally really well written, and says some poignant things about the co-opting of counter-culture for branding purposes.
You can probably get it from the library.
I might be willing to sacrifice other things for cheaper rent… like my television, or possibly moving elsewhere still in the general downtown core…
also,
I must note that these days, I scrunch up my face in mock disgust (or maybe genuine disgust) when I am faced with some kind of nice clothing that is slapped unabashedly with an brand. Even if the zazz-factor of the font for said brand adds something to the shirt/pants/skirt/shoe/hat/underthing, I still won’t ever buy it. I hate having words on my clothes that didn’t come out of my mouth. (The exception being my bjork and yo la tengo shirts)
Likewise, logos get a pretty big thumbs down from me too.
Clothes are an easy thing to not want to be branded buy, in my opinion. The things I really struggle with, when it comes to brand loyalty are President’s Choice food products. Some kind of weird subtle brain-washing has been going on in grocery stores for years.. I’m convinced.
And on another note.
Not having something that makes life easier is also a way of experiencing life differently. That probably seems a little simple, but this summer, K.borg and I decided to leave the air conditioner in the storage closet, and brave the heat with a shaved down dog, and lots of water. I am convinced that I enjoyed summer twice as much because I there were days that got so hot that I was forced to think of something to do outdoors where I could be more comfortable.
Summer is such a jewel here, that the longer I live and work in environments where forced air is the norm, the longer I question the sanity of it all.
So the moral of this story is, slow down, have a nice iced tea, and enjoy your comfortable underwear, and non pc snacks in peaceful heat. Or something.
Heya Ali,
I hear you on location (location location). For us, we decided to live close to work, even though it meant sacrificing more fun city digs (city digs, which we wouldn’t get to enjoy because of longer more stressful commutes).
But fun city visits are a good runner up to actually living and working there. A friend from Rochester, NY recently moved to San Francisco, so we have been spending a bit more nighttime time there. When I was interning at the George Krevsky Gallery, my hours were pretty much 9-5, so I didn’t spend a lot of dark hours in SF.
Sunnyvale is starting to grow on me. I am one of the few bikers in the city. Not leather jacket bikers, but rather the slower, quieter, foot-powered kind. And I’m getting good at throwing caution to the wind and initiating each “hi” as I pass Sunnyvalians on the street. Sometimes people even respond.
Last week as I was unlocking my bike from the cart stand at Trader Joe’s , a woman in parked her car and yelled (or rather “loudtalked”, as yelling implies anger, of which there was none) to me. I couldn’t quite understand her, but I thought she asked about my bike, and I responded with the usual slightly confused nod and “nice day, blah blah”.
Then she said she had wanted to offer me a ride because it looked like I had a lot of groceries to carry, but didn’t want to seem like a weirdo, and wasn’t even sure about saying anything to me.
We got into a mini talk about karma, and peoples attitudes around Silicon Valley. Interesting to know that everyone I have talked to about this tunnelvision town has picked up on the weird attitudes. Not weird-bad, just weird as in unlike-anywhere-else-I-have-ever-been. I think it stems from very few true “natives”. Most people have lived here less than 5 years, and a rare few have lived here for ten. Also, the mix of cultures (mostly China/India/North America) creates an atmosphere of politically-correct-phobia.
And on top of all of this — the driving. Most people-watching is done at stop-lights. In an average day, I would assume that most SV people only see– their family or housemates (for breakfast and dinner), their coworkers (from 10-6), and hundreds of split-second-flashes of faces in the opposite lane.
Anyway. I finished loading my bike pack up with my groceries, and got on my bike to head home. As I wheeled out from behind the cart stand, she said “Oh, you ARE on a bike”.
It was one of those funny moments when both parties of an interaction see something that changes the interaction entirely. I finally realized what she had asked me initially (“Are you on a bike with all those groceries?”), and she must have realized I was either a little deaf, a little spacey, or (more likely) the only weirdo in our encounter.
And on a sidenote: Tell me more about the PC brainwashing… Do you take advantage of PC financial? It’s pretty damn free, which rocks. And PC food… no complaints from me. There aren’t many brands I’m loyal to here. Not in the way I was loyal to Memories of Szechwan Spicy Peanut Satay Sauce. Ha.
I tried some PC curry mayo this summer. Big Dave can brainwash me all he wants if he keeps making food that outperforms American high-fructose-corn-syrup, MSG and partially-hydrogenated fare on all levels.
There was a week or two of crazy hot weather here. People were brawling for the last A/C unit on the Home Depot floor. I packed up my schoolwork and hung out in air-conditioned cafes for the week. (It was too hot outside to enjoy anything besides searing skin).
Alright…time for me to work on a proper post. Any ideas?
-robyn
people who mind don’t matter and people who matter don’t mind.
that was the version I had heard…
on PC financial and freedom
I think I feel brainwashed because I reach for their brand without thinking. I’m a little better now, when the perception of time hasn’t got me crazily running to an fro, but if I’m in a rush, and snap decisions must be made before dinner can be had… well.
There are, unfortunately, no nutrition listings on a tomato, telling you just what you’re putting in.. I read recently that the fat and salt content of tomatoes (and many other veggies) has increased two-fold or more in the last 40 years, while vitamin & nutrient content has erroded to the same degree. (Due to agri-business, and some thanks to Reagan)
(see The End of Food by Pawlick)
But, what am I complaining about? I live in Canada, where the average person can afford to eat twice as much to get half as much nutritional value…
I imagine California must be something of a paradox when it comes to food. Lots of things can be readily grown, cheaply (because of labour practises…) and yet still a weird struggle between “high” food and “low” food…
Again, the rambling could go on, but back tot he topic at hand.
Yes, I do use PC financial, though for my Mastercard rather than my bank account. I guess I stuck with Royal Bank because of my student debt. I was scared off of my constant selection of PC brand products recently when I consulted a Chicken Korma sauce of their brand vs. Pataks. The obvious thing here is that I should just learn how to cook my own damn butter chicken, but again, the perception of time and learning had me buying pre-fab. The Pataks had about 50% less saturated/trans fats.. so I was glad I consulted, because the media has encouraged me to fear trans-fats. IU haven’t really changed my behaviour completely, but have started to become more aware of my loyalty, and possibly also a cooking laziness.
But I still feel I’m free to choose. (see the opposite viewpoint in: No Logo by Klein)
p.s.
Krissy,
how are things?
Hi Krissy! Thanks. Better wording….
How are things? (Sorry for parroting, Ali).
and Hi Ali, as well!
Hope all is well with both of you.
California food is definitely a big switch. When I was home in July, I was *shocked* at how cheap everything was, produce-wise.
It’s funny, because here, the things you don’t have to buy (big screen tvs and other techno-toys) are relatively cheap, but the necessities are priced at a premium. (If you can’t stomach the cheaply made store brands – as cheaply made means HFCS, MSG, and other stomach hurting additives and overly processed unpronounceables). Cost and quality go hand in hand here. Even the local farmer’s market is fairly expensive. But people gotta eat.
As for pre-made easy-prep food… I have pretty much ruled those out of my diet. Label reading has become a survival tactic down here. And my health screen has the good numbers to prove it.
The trans fat thing makes me laugh. It’s always something. Butter has cholesterol, so we will make something better…wait, now margarine is bad because of partially hydrogenating. Sugar is bad, so we’ll make a substitute. Enter aspartame. Oh wait, aspartame might cause cancer. We need something else. Splenda. Splendid. For now.
Make you want to pull a Walden.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on PC. Has got me thinking about label awareness. I’ll pick up No Logo whenever it gets returned to the Sunnyvale library.
I’m gonna start a new post: September reading list.
feel free to submit something. Ali, I’ve made you an official Naked Finance Crusader. (I’ll email you the login). Krissy, send me a pic (doesn’t have to be you, just something 170 px wide) if you want to be a crusader too.
til later,
ry