I’m a little stressed out. I’m thinking about money, and I hate thinking about money. I’m the master of Excel spreadsheets and thinking about how much we’ll spend where, and on what. I’ve been doing it for years, since I was 14 years old, living on Saipan, when I got my first checkbook. I had my first job, and there was just nothing like the smell of that blue plastic cover, and the blank,lined record pages. I believe the first check I wrote was to Joe-Ten, the drugstore, and I bought a romance novel and some chocolate.
Then I went home and made a budget. Wrote detailed lists of what I would make, and what I would spend. I’m doing the same thing now, only instead of cents, I round up to the nearest fifty bucks, and I’m still bad at guessing.
When we were kids, Christy would always save her allowance (she’s still a saver, much wiser with her money that I am). I’d blow it on candy within an hour of getting my dollar (four Hershey’s bars). I’m still very much that way — I’ve been lucky and I’ve worked hard for what I have, and now what WE have, but I still blow too much money in places it shouldn’t be blown. It’s not like I buy clothes, or cars, or the other things that people spend money on. I haven’t even bought much yarn in the past six months. I guess house-having is just ‘spensive, and I’m still trying to offload the condo, too. I accepted an offer on it today — please think good thoughts, because we NEED this to go through. Managing two mortgages is icky. I don’t like it at all.
And of course, as soon as the belt tightens, and we discuss seriously that until we pay off the honeymoon debt we won’t spend ANY extraneous money, all I want is sushi. Here in the Bay Area, since this isn’t Vancouver, home of perfectness and all-you-can-eat-sushi for five bucks, sushi is always $40. No matter how much or how little you order, it’s always somehow $40. We haven’t figured that out yet, but it’s not in the budget right now, so I have to get over my fish craving. Darn it.
All for good reasons. But I’m a little cranky about it, can you tell? And I’m nervous about the offer on the condo — if it goes through, great. If it falls through, that’s another month in unsuccessful escrow that we have to pay mortgage on, and mama’s shoes are awful damn thin, you know? I’ll have to rent it out then, instead of selling it, and that’s a loss every month that we’ll have to make up.
I dunno. I guess I’m just whingeing. You’re polite to still be reading. I’ll tell you a funny story to reward you:
Yesterday I was on the back porch, reading (during my LOVELY pajama day. Best pajama day EVER). I heard gunfire and then screaming. (Our Oakland neighborhood is…. colorful.) Then I heard more gunfire, and more screaming. And more, and more.
Then I figured it out: It was the high school we live behind, having a track meet. They’d fire the gun, and people would scream for the runners. Then they’d do it again. And again.
Have a good weekend, y’all. Go congratulate The Cutest Blogger of All, Carrieoke. (I swear, she’s even cuter in person. Defies belief.) Carrie, you’re gonna love marriage. Promise.
Oh, ugh, I have $ sighs too. 44 big ones per year in tuition. And if you don’t think that hurts on Vermont-style income, then the next time I see you, I’ll pinch you and then you tell me it doesn’t hurt. 😉
I am so bad. I read every post on your blog and I never comment. Well almost never.
I know how $$ issues are. With three children, and me being a stay at home mom, things do get tight.
There is this awesome sushi buffet in Roseville (near Sacramento) 8.95, all you can eat. Wonderful.
I am headed to San Fran in the fall for a weekend alone trip. ALL ALONE. Yarn stores, shopping, the whole works…. sans husband and children.
As a newlywed you can probably not imagine my excitement, but believe me, I am counting the days 🙂
I’d offer to send Vancouver sushi to you by mail, but I’m not sure if you’d like the look of it when it arrives.
Does San Francisco have a Marsh’s Supermarket? Here in Indiana, this grocery store has a sushi bar that you can buy a tray of sushi for about $10. They even have a guy standing there all day making it, and there are always people standing around eating it. See if you have a Whole Foods or whatnot and grab some sushi there, if they make it in-house. Of course, this is coming from someone who is allergic to fish/shellfish so I couldn’t tell you of the quality…
Well then the only answer is to come back to Vancouver for cheap sushi. I’ll buy.
Um, no, I won’t buy the plane tickets, only the sushi. I’m not utterly mad.
Only sorta close.
Ahh, cheer up, Rachel. You know, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. Yes, a new house, the wedding, is very expensive. But, the time will come soon enough, when everything smoothes out. Share a portion of Sushi with Lala, its romantic!
For a year I lived right next to (yes, literally) the local high school football field. No gunshots for us, but lots and lots of marching band. Tons of fun – especially when you stood in the exact right place in the house, and could hear both the original and the *echo* of the slightly out of tune rendition of Louie Louie. Nothing like it!
I hear you on money. I’ve been unemployed for 2 months, and there’s just nothing in this town. 2 people living off of 1 public defender’s salary? So much not fun. Aah, the ego blow of being in school until you’re 26 and not even being able to get a job as an adminstrative assistant…
Oh, and by the way, the first thing I’m doing when I get a new job is going out for sushi. The craving is killing me. I truly feel your pain.
Would it be cheaper to make your own sushi, you think?
Yeah, you’re just house-poor. Don’t worry. When you get paid, buy one fun thing for yourself, so you don’t feel completely deprived, then pay your bills, you probably already have all the clothes you need, and if you have to, it’s OK to buy food at the grocery store (not the restaurant) with a credit card. Anything else you need, you can put it off. Play with the toys you already have. My recipe for being poor in the Bay Area.
right there with ya on the money woes…living on 1 retail monkey’s salary while I’m in grad school & raising mini-monkey, we are as my husband said yesterday “living tight.”
The budgeting thing is so new for us, that it’s still actually exotic and sexy. My teenaged self is cringing in horror at my adult self for saying that. Jeez. Who knew?
Miss you guys. I wish I could alleviate your sushi deficiency. 🙂
xox
Good thoughts are thunk!
I do believe it’s cheaper to get sushi here in NM than it is out there, by an ocean. I am stunned.
And now I want sushi.
Isn’t it nice that gun shots and screams can occasionally be good things?
I’m with you on the $$ thing. We’re trying like crazy to pay things off, and then crap happens like the microwave dies, one of our cars starts making a noise when it turns, and blah blah blah. I don’t think it ever stops, so I try to remember to be happy with doing the best we can do.
I’m impressed that you are managing two mortgages, the thought of that makes me want to go crawl in my yarn closet and cry!
For your sushi fix try Makiyaki. It is at East 14th and Parrot in the Pelton Center in beautiful downtown San Leandro. They are a very big bang for the buck, plus they’re really nice!
Wishing you good luck on the codo deal! Sorry to hear about your money worries – they’re a real pain in the ,uh neck, no? Hang in there! (Ya know, that saying always reminds me of that cheesy ’70’s poster which hung in, like, every classroom of my elementary school days – the one of the kitty hanging from a tree branch – still makes me smile :))
Sara
I know my comment is a day late, but I missed you over the weekend. Sushi is $40 in Tucson too. I can’t figure it out either. And as far as budgets go, my mother used to say, “Pigs won’t eat it, might as well spend it.” It’s no wonder I’m always broke.
Girls ~ just relax and enjoy your love. Trust me one day it could all be gone and that sucks butt!
Come to eastern Canada for sushi. We will open the bait sheds, and you can help yourself. To us, that is truly bait, and we use it to bait the hooks on trawl lines. I cannot imagine enjoying ANY raw (albeit “cooked” in a marinade) sort of seafood. So, come visit me and you can have all the sushi you want for a dime a pound 🙂
Rachel i loved the storey about the school in the back with the track meet.. that really cracked me up.. have a great weekend.. karola
I just wanted to second the suggestion of fancy-grocery-store sushi. I can get pretty decent eel and avocado rolls at mine, for about $5. Hey, have you tried Trader Joe’s? I think most of theirs are cooked, but it’s still good. (Of course, I can’t eat raw fish anyway, so I may be biased.)