Was 25 and super nervous, so when the realtor was like "oh yeah they just check for basic stuff, but I looked around and it looks great" I was like "Oh okay, this is so astronomically expensive every penny saved is good..."...
The simple, but annoying answer, was luck and fear.
I grew up in poverty on account of my father going to prison very young and my unprepared mom having to somehow take care of 3 kids and realizing he had made lots of money vanish and stolen lots of the money we did have that needed to be returned, and instead of inheriting money irresponsibly, I got a crippling fear of debt and spending money on non necessities.
But at the same time I was making around 70k a year at 25, because at 20 I got my associates in IT, then found a job paying above what I was asking for in under a month after graduating, and I still work at that job 10 years later as they've been very reasonable through everything. Getting that job SOO fast that worked out so well was just pure luck.
Also I couldn't buy the house I'm in anymore, buying at 25 instead of 26 was pure luck. If I had been born a year later, buying at 25 wouldn't have worked. The price of the house went up about 100k a few months later.
Also even in 2019, my home was considered a fantastic deal. A 2k square foot town home for 240k in a medium sized city (the one I grew up in), within walking distance of main street. It has an hoa, but it only has 9 other town homes in it, and we have a massive shared common area and pool. Having a pool I only have to share with a dozen other people is a luxury I never imagined. Hoa fee is 200$ and they've only ever asked me to pull weeds around my house when a neighbor was selling theirs and they wanted it to look pretty to help out a neighbor.
So I actually don't have a car (too expensive) and I can walk/bike to grocery stores, doctors appointments, the like. To top it off it's only about 3 miles from where my mom lives, and we just recently moved my grandma into a senior living center about a mile away so she's close to me and my mom.
So, yeah. I just saved every penny to a stupid level, then got rather lucky. Saving every penny at my income wouldn't have worked without the luck. Never being unemployed in my entire life was pure luck. Finding a home that met all my needs perfectly within my budget was crazy.
The cheapest home in this city are 200k 900 square feet town homes, but because of the interest rates the monthly payments are 50% higher than my beloved home.
But all that luck wouldn't have meant a thing if I hadn't saved like crazy. Sooo... yeah. For context, after much cajoling from counseling I have agreed to allow myself 100$ fun budget per month, and $400 a month for food so I buy more "nice" food. My only debts are a little bit of my college loans (I paid off all the high interest ones and the only ones left are like 3%. I had a tradition where every tax return I just put the entire thing towards the highest interest student loan) and my mortgage which is at 4.25%. I'm going to retire a millionaire and with a fully paid off home.
But it's so sad, because people taking the EXACT same actions as me, but 2 years younger, won't. They'll have to rent their entire life, or buy a home out in the middle of nowhere away from family and services. Which means they'll most likely need a car and have to pay other premiums.
And it was one of those things where it's like I had X amount of money, and afterwards I was going to have not much money at all. So spending $300 more of that tiny remaining money was uncomfortable.
Thank you! I wish I could give advice that was relevant to the current time . If I was 24 and didn't own a home I'd probably be having to do math on buying a 100k home in a super cheap area in a different state. But that would come with other hidden costs like having to own a car, not having access to good medical care, possibly higher crime rate, if I didn't have a WFH job then finding a job will most likely be a pay cut and if I lost my WFH job I'd have to most likely take a lower paying job, then of course if I wanted to see my family ever I'd have to budget in that....
Ugh. IDK man, I feel awful for people just 5 years younger than me.
Well even the land itself is worth more than I paid, and 5 years of no problems is a great start. But will find a good inspector and see if I really did get that lucky!
Even if the categories are iffy, both people getting different results is probably enough to go "hey maybe we need to talk about what makes us feel loved"
And there are even recommended tag mashes for different genres! I have found my people who have been similarly hurt by picking up a book that they thought was a standalone, then running right into a cliff hanger wall and an unfinished series.
If you google “which wheel of time can I skip” you will find many discussions about it.
You’ll also find fan edits where for a ton of chapters are skipped and instead gives a small update of anything important that happened.
Famously, despite women being incredibly powerful and it having tons of female characters that talk to one another, he gives a lot of them quirks that get brought up all the time.
Fans who follow more closely can correct me if I’m wrong, but…
The author streams and does events, but hasn’t given any updates in a long time. He did a fund raiser where a goal was releasing the first chapter of his next book, which he supposedly has been working on since 2011, and he never did despite meeting the goal. Sure feels like despite supposedly working on it for 2011 he hasn’t even made a draft of the opening chapter.
Additionally, his previous editors and publisher have said they haven’t seen any indication he is working on them at all. So it doesn’t seem like he’s agonizing over revision 512 and still not happy with it. Seems like he just never made a first draft.
Haha my gf reads fan fiction and I do get jealous!
She can do “cozy platonic, slow burn” with any 3 characters in a story and she’ll get a perfect list as if it’d been hand curated for her despite it being a seemingly insane thing to look for.
Like how come I can’t just click on good reads " finished series only" but she can find a list of all stories where the main characters have been turned into cats and snuggle up together???
I saw the trailer for “American society of magical Negroes” and it looked kinda funny in the first 20 seconds, then the trailer went on to show what I’m pretty sure was literally everything in the movie....
Context: my gf mentioned getting a vpn for privacy, and I tried to explain that it “does” help, but it’s more like type of windows on a house. It certainly can be part of the package, but it’s no where near the foundation....
Oh man see I knew i was missing stuff! My gf wanted more if an explanation of why I didn’t love a vpn but I couldn’t really explain more than “if you leave sign pots everywhere that you live here, probably don’t need to worry about bread crumbs”
You’re so right and never thought of it like that! If you Google and find a new service you’ve never heard of, we’re expected to give up our soul in a heartbeat! Even for a new email so many are like: First name Last name Phone number for dual authentication Install this app for dual auth Birthdate!
Like dude, there are a lot of services that just that information alone is enough to call in and take my account. It’s so scary how common that is.
A game I play uses PayPal as the payment processor, and pay pal decided to pay this specific company I had to upload the front and back of my ID.
Someone posted to the class discussion form with the bit about being an ai bot still included.
I wish it was a joke.
I didn’t do great in that class, but it was me getting 70% for not wanting to try and explain a mathematically concept in 500 words! They won’t take that away from me.
So funnily enough, she has had romantic interest in 2-3 women in her life who were very close friends that were gregarious, successful,kind, and independent.
But she wasn’t actually attracted to them. It’s like her brain recognized “oh hey these people would be wonderful to have has life partners.”
But she’s not attracted to women. So yeah still hoping she’ll decide she likes women. Cause my dad was rock bottom and her recent boy friends were looking for a new mom to take care of them at 55.
So yeah, her taste in women would hopefully stay high if she decides she is gay!
4ish years ago when I bought a house I was convinced not to get a house inspection, would it be crazy to get one now just to make sure it's all good?
Was 25 and super nervous, so when the realtor was like "oh yeah they just check for basic stuff, but I looked around and it looks great" I was like "Oh okay, this is so astronomically expensive every penny saved is good..."...
What's your favorite budget "little treat"?
When I want a little sweet treat I make smoothies....
If you want a warrior main character, have them a squire or something! ( lemmy.world )
Is there a "personality test" you've done you found helpful?
Most are made up and silly....
The University of Texas at Austin has 'delisted' this video so that it's harder to find. ( www.youtube.com )
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8937537...
You play your game bro, you play your meta ass cheap way! ( lemmy.ca )
Site that let's me filter by standalone novels only?
I love fantasy, but fantasy series are kind of nefarious for some… problems....
What movie trailer ruined the movie with how much it revealed?
I saw the trailer for “American society of magical Negroes” and it looked kinda funny in the first 20 seconds, then the trailer went on to show what I’m pretty sure was literally everything in the movie....
PSA: It's probably time ( i.imgur.com )
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/14493635...
Maybe you just need to get some sun ( lemmy.world )
Pick! ( lemmy.world )
What steps do you feel like are before a VPN?
Context: my gf mentioned getting a vpn for privacy, and I tried to explain that it “does” help, but it’s more like type of windows on a house. It certainly can be part of the package, but it’s no where near the foundation....
U.S. announces $138 million in emergency military sales of Hawk missile systems support for Ukraine ( apnews.com )
Students Are Likely Writing Millions of Papers With AI ( www.wired.com )
How to make streets safer with just a brick - video version ( www.youtube.com )
The April’s fool of the brick to cross the street has also an hilarious associated video....
Show me how much you contribute to SponsorBlock
https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/dcdf1f91-88ab-4712-a2fe-af03930d41bd.png
How would you react if one of your parents came out as gay? (serious)