What IS "baggage"???

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2005
What IS "baggage"???
38
Fri, 06-29-2007 - 2:21pm

So I've seen "no baggage" talked about a lot lately, as a prerequisite for dating material.

What IS baggage? And how do you reach adulthood without having any?

Our experiences and how we deal with what we're dealt makes us what we are.

Personally, I'd rather deal with some baggage than a blah mediocre vanilla lifestyle.


iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2006
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 12:12pm
Seriously! I make 29! :)
Avatar for cl_shywon
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 12:40pm

I was thinking the same thing!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2005
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 1:24pm
hahaha I know I was going to say you and I live in a very high cost of living part of the country and I make 38k so 90k sounds perfect to me. LOL

Smile,

Deirdre

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2006
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 1:27pm
Yeah, I grew up in a rough area of MA and we kind of squeaked by, but I had a pretty happy childhood, so I'm thankful. Living on 29k in Boston is definitely not easy, but I'm coming from my parents making only slightly more than that and supporting a family and making 70 dollars a week in college (how the heck did I do that??), so living paycheck to paycheck is kind of the norm....hopefully it won't be in a few years. probably not 80-90k, but still. :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2006
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 2:01pm
<>
I second that!
Pregnancy ticker
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2004
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 2:13pm
After taxes, medical, 401k, and other deductions, I only see about $16800 of my pay per year.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 2:38pm

"""""I make just under $32500/year, so $80-$90k to me sounds pretty good to me! Where do I apply? LOL""""

I will be lucky to clear 30 after taxes this year myself. (-: Thus the whole chapter 7, down to survival. I don't think my mom and dad ever eared 30K combined.(8th and 11th grade educations) For me it has just been the last 5 or 6 years.

For the record, I would be glad to give you the phone number for my old boss . . just check your life at the door. (-: He once told me, "we want you to have a life, just not much of one and not often. He was generous in his description. (-; 7 days a week, 12 plus hours a day, and never ever home.

Could just be Miami, a cheap town house is well over 300K now-a-days, with the hurricanes the last several years insurance is off the chart, escrow is nuts. . .it takes almost 4K a month just to cover a mortgage, then add car, gas, food, utilities . . .I was not kidding when I said some of the girls I met on Match ended the date the moment they found out that was ALL I made. (-: I cant realistically look at $700,000 single family homes on that measly income. lol I agree, it scares me too. (-: I do however know a lot of women who make far more than I was making, far more. Education combined with a fearless approach to work can be a dangerous thing. ((-: I would be unstoppable if I had one. (-: Plus, even a devoiced woman who got a 4 million dollar home and support . . .it still adds up to something that can dwarf my paycheck. To her I am in fact not "gainfully" employed. All about perspective. I find a LOT of that on match. I paid $104,000 for the home I walked away from in the divorce, it is worth well into the 400K mark now. Trust me, it is a lot for me to earn, but in Miami it is not much money at all.
Miami is full of regular folks . .. it just seems they are not who I meet in places like match. ((-: I just have to filter people out . . .always with the "filters" with me. (-;

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2007
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 3:02pm
A small one bedroom condo in the Boston area goes for $325,000, easy. I know there's a few Boston area locals on the board. The cost of living here is outrageous. Most of my friends had to move to western part of the state, southern NH or northern RI before they could even consider buying. Sad, actually that home ownership is slipping away as part of the American dream. Mine is to pay off my student loans, but that day is still aways off.

~Heather~

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2006
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 3:06pm
Nah, I feel like most major cities are that expensive now. I've looked at condos in Boston just for the hell of it (I'm quite obviously NOT looking to buy anytime in the near future, I just like to look) and I've found nice loft studios for 350k. My mentality is, though, if I'm making 45k in four or five years (par for the course if I stay in this industry) and I actually enjoy what I'm doing and have moved up a notch or two, that's really all I ask for. I feel like I use my education more to open up possibilities than to make money...yet again, why I work for non-profits. :) I've thought about going into design of some sort lately. Architecture, interior design....I'm really itching to do something creative...though if I stay in this field I'll probably end up in event planning, which also has the potential to be fun. Who knows. :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2006
Mon, 07-02-2007 - 3:08pm
It is sad, isn't it? I still have that naive dream of owning a little place in the North End...Southie's a little more realistic, but both may be a pipe dream, it all depends on what I'm doing in five, ten years. I love Boston and I really don't want to leave...