Monday, February 28, 2005

If you can't live on 100K, I'll take it.

Wah wah wah. $100,000 isn't what it used to be.

According to this hilarious Nyuk Times article, $100K is so low brow that even the harmless $100,000 candy bar has now become the 100 GRAND candy bar.

I don't live in New York, I live in Boston. Everyone tells me how expensive Boston is and quite honestly it seems preferable to be poor and only making $100K in New York than to be poor and only making $100K in Boston, but poor in this case is relative.

Really, really, relative.

I don't make anything close to $100K and if any of my friends do they are hiding it well indeed. But if Patricia Belden is to be believed, then I am practically a pauper.

"When Patricia Belden, a 39-year-old developer of affordable housing in Boston, was a student at Cornell University in the mid-80's, she dreamed of a six-figure income. "I would be satisfied with the life that would buy," she recalled thinking. Ms. Belden passed that milestone and is not complaining. But when she and her husband, a violin maker, recently shopped for a home in Boston for themselves and their newborn son, they settled for a loft in the city's trendy South End.

Sounds chic, Ms. Belden allowed, except the family has subdivided a space the size of a large studio into a three-bedroom apartment, what she calls "a ranch house in the sky."

The couple's big extravagance was a permanent parking space for $20,000. "My father told me, 'Honey, don't worry, we paid $20,000 for our first parking space,' " Ms. Belden said. "But it came with a house and a garage."

You don't "settle" for a loft in the city, you "choose" to live in a trendy area. And quite frankly Ms. Belden should be embarassed to "allow" that it sounds chic. It is chic. The South End has become the most obnoxiously self-absorbed neighborhood in all of Boston. Honestly, who on earth needs a million dollar floor through apartment, or for that matter a Land Rover in the city. Please.

It's ridiculous enough that Ms. Belden is an affordable housing planner who split up the space the "size of a large studio" into a three bedroom apartment, but I want to know where she got a parking space for $20K. I think that it was probably closer to $40K.

I wonder if Ms. Belden knows that a few blocks over on the wrong side of Mass Ave she could get a whole house for half what she paid for her ranch in the sky. I bet her $100,00o would go twice as far.

So if there is anyone out there reading this who has a hundred grand they can't live on, please, send it my way and I can show you how to make it last for at least three and a half years.



9 comments:

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Hi there Miss. Von Schtoop, I am very interested in make money on the internet. Your blog came to my attention by following some links for If you can't live on 100K, I'll take it.. I really think your blog is cool. Unfortunately it was not exactly relevant to make money on the internet. All in all I am glad I accidently came across your site. I am going to tell my friends about your blog. They are very interested in your subject.I am sure they will visit often. Thanks and make it a great day!

Anonymous said...

Good Day Miss. Von Schtoop, I just did a search for make money at home and for some reason your site was highlighted! I have a real interest in If you can't live on 100K, I'll take it. and was hoping your site could lead me to more info. Unfortunately it did not have any sources for make money at home
Thanks Anyway!
PS: I really enjoyed your read even though it was not what I had anticipated.