Reply #47: Really? Ithought it was smug and clueless. [View All]

[UdoKier]

Living within one's means, of course is a wonderful motto to hew to, but it isn't as easy in real life as on paper.

To live within my means here in San Francisco, I would have to move my wife and two kids into a studio apartment in the ghetto. Even then I don't know if it would be cheap enough.

As it is, we have a 2-BR apartment, a 9-year old car, we seldom buy new clothes or new ANYTHING for that matter. I challenge you to stretch $28K per year in this city as far as I have. I NEED a new computer for my work, so I have debt.

We managed to find a 2 BR for $1200 utils. included, in SF. That's DIRT CHEAP here, but in many of the towns where preachy repugs I know live, you can easily buy a house for a smaller payment than that. And you can rent an equivalent apartment for less than $500.

Our kids get educational opportunities here that they could not get anywhere else (maybe NYC or LA) so we're staying for the duration.