RJM

Agree with you here.

KonAaron Snake 

You're using it in a very literal way. What it means in the parlance of our times is the life style (excess) you can enjoy with your income level. Someone making 400,000/yr is still limited by his income, just far less limited than I am.

I am able to live better than my income would allow if I didn't live close to work without a car. I can eat out more often and have more discretionary income.

bigbossman 

Death before Oatmeal!

treebound 

I typed a two page contribution to this thread but then deleted it, and will simply say that I envy some people's lives, and not the lives of a few others.

Do what you can, deal with what you can't, make changes where possible for improvement, but sometimes options are limited, life goes on.

miamijim

I'm not reading all 8 pages but here's my sob story......

I work at Florida Hospital Tampa and Florida Hospital Zephyrhills. Work requires me to be in the OR within 30 minutes of being called when I'm on call. If I only worked at 1 hospital I could easily commute from the 33647. 33647 is a very, very nice area to live, top notch demographics, top notch schools. The public schools are so good there's no need to send your kid to private school unless its for religous or behavioral issues. A family sacrifices nothing living in 33647 versus South Tampa or Carrolwood, in fact I'd say you gain by living in 33647 because real estate is very affordable, maybe not in the sticks ND or MN affordable but $175K will get you 2200 sq.ft with a pool. I remember having a conversation with a co-worker about housing, he said he could either live in a 2,000 sq/ft house in South Tampa for $400,000 (45 minute commute) or live in a 3,000sq/ft house in New Tampa (33647) for $250,000 (10 minute commute).

IMHO 'means' refers to your personal situation. Every money manager has their own recommendation in regards to monthly allocation of income, X for housing, Y for transportation etc. My wife and I live way below our means, we dont spend anywhere near what's recommended or advised for anything. Why do we do this? Very simply because its who we are, niether of us give a dam what others think in regards to what we drive, where we live or what we have. Living below our means leaves alot of discretionary income, but we still find the need to justify almost everything we buy. Its just who we are. We're not cheap, we're not frugal, we're not stupid either.

Maybe I'm just rambling but its your money...do what you want with it, just be aware that what you do with your money isnt always the best thing to do with it.

tmoneygetpaid

Um, what are "top notch demographics"?

A lot of these comments are deeply frustrating to me as someone who has made a deliberate personal choice not to own a car, not to participate in what I see as the fetishization of a luxury that causes public health and environmental degradation. I want to bike commute daily into old age, and I'm up to the challenge of figuring out the logistics of making that work in my life.

But I realize that this is my choice, and you are all welcome to yours. And of course the realities of each of our lives (kids, health, etc.) and the infrastructures of where we live will determine whether or not bike commuting is feasible, and we all have a point at which choosing to commute by bike calls for too much sacrifice on our time, our bodies, etc.

Regarding the OP, I gotta say, I really don't think that in a major urban area his reasoning is that off. You aren't going to save much if any money on rent or mortgage
by choosing to live in an outlying suburb over living in a reasonable neighborhood in the city. And you are consigning a lot of what would be your free time to transit. Living in a major city, biking for errands, and bike commuting to work are entirely feasible.

tmoneygetpaid

Um, what are "top notch demographics"?

A lot of these comments are deeply frustrating to me as someone who has made a deliberate personal choice not to own a car, not to participate in what I see as the fetishization of a luxury that causes health and environmental degradation.

But I realize that this is my choice, and you are all welcome to yours. And of course the realities of each of our lives (kids, health, etc.) and the infrastructures of where we live will determine whether or not bike commuting is feasible, and we all have a point at which choosing to commute by bike calls for too much sacrifice on our time, our bodies, etc.

Regarding the OP, I gotta say, I really don't think that in a major urban area his reasoning is that off. You aren't going to save much if any money on rent or mortgage
by choosing to live in an outlying suburb over living in a reasonable neighborhood in the city. And you are consigning a lot of what would be your free time to transit. Living in a major city, biking for errands, and bike commuting to work are entirely feasible.

Italuminium

Yes! this quote made my day. Awesome movie.

Captain Blight

...And of course, "Tampa" comes to us from the Seminole, meaning, "Place where the shallow and the old go to sweat."

bbattle

My mention of the Amish was not to promote their lifestyle but rather to point out that there is no one perfect lifestyle that everyone should follow.

There are pros and cons to owning a house, a car, a hairbrush; even, dare I say it, a bicycle.

No sooner do you get that Centurion and post pics of it on the C & V than someone else posts a thread about how they just sold some sucker a Centurion for way more than they paid for it.

Things are tough all over.