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wrote:

JazzMan wrote:

BTW, car gets 26-33 MPG and I do all my own maintenance,
I don't have (and can't afford) a car payment and the mandatory
full coverage insurance that goes along with it. I got my first
raise in almost three years, all thirty five cents, and I don't
expect to get any more for the foreseeable future.

OK, I'll bite. Why on earth are you staying at that job and in that location?
I'd have shown that employer my butt cheeks walking out the door about two
years ago.

Because there aren't any jobs that I can find in my field
that pay any more than what I make now, in this area. Plus,
this area has a dirth of new jobs other than low-paid service
sector jobs, and I'd have to work two or three of those to
make what I make now.

What it really boils down to is that all of the affordable
housing around here is moving way out into the boonies. If
I was willing to live 40-50 miles away and spend $250/month
in fuel and the attendant car maintenance associated with
that kind of high mileage I could buy a house. I have enough
saved to put 20% or more down so that I can avoid paying PMI,
that's being frugal, but in the end I don't want to spend three
hours a day in grinding stop and go commuting traffic, I don't
want to spend a couple hundred hours a year doing major system
overhauls on my car.

I've thought about moving, but where? The D/FW area is
supposedly one of the most robust economic areas in Texas,
though I feel that the numbers that show this don't reflect
the fact that most of the new jobs created here are low-paid
McJobs and not real technical and production jobs. I was in
Topeka a few weekends ago, that area looks really nice, but
looking through the want adds in the paper yielded nothing
that would work for me. No real jobs. That seems to be the
mantra in these modern times.

I've considered going back to school, but I just can't afford
it. I though about borrowing money, but what would I repay the
loan with? It would have to be a big loan, enough to cover all
my living expenses and rent, and to pay tuition and books as
well. I've resolved all my life to live debt free, and I can't
see graduating with a huge debt bigger than a mortgage with no
assurance I could get a job that paid enough to repay the loan
and have a life, too. I've got friends with advanced degrees
who have been looking for jobs for the last three years, and
that doesn't give me confidence that I can compete with 22 year
olds fresh out of college with the same degree as I would have.

My parents are both dead, so that's not an option, and neither
ever had much money to begin with. I'm the first person, perhaps
the only person, that I know of in my family that has ever
earned a degree. It took me a very long time working full time
and going part time to school at nights, but I did it. However,
it doesn't seem to be paying off, and I wonder if it was worth
it sometimes.

I'm considering asking my company if I can also work
the night shift as a welder or fitter, I took welding classes
in school for fun and have my own wire welder that I make
things with. It would benefit my company because they would
save the cost of benefits since I already get those at my
day job there. The extra income from the welding job would
bump me up into the 28% tax bracket just a touch, but I should
earn enough to actual be able to save aggressively, plus I
can get some experience in GMAW and maybe SMAW which might
pay off down the road.

IMHO the real estate price explosion around here is part
of a speculative bubble, because even in spite of the
record foreclosure rates here lately prices are still
skyrocketing. I had hoped that the bubble would burst
when the economy tanked three years ago, so that lower
prices combined with low interest rates would finally
give me the ability to buy a home, but now I see rates
going back up, and prices not budging a nickel. I don't
know what to do about that. This reminds me of the deal
in Amsterdam back in the 1600s when speculation drove
the prices of tulips up to astronomical levels. A single
tulip would cost more than a house. People would buy
tulips on the hopes that they would go up in price and
they could sell for a large profit. Sound familiar?

JazzMan
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