So, in general I’m a pretty cheap date. I get tipsy from a glass of wine – and
when you have a boyfriend who knows how to cook steak well, what’s the appeal
of going out for a fancy dinner? Since I’m a fierce, independent woman (rawr), if I wanted something, I
bought it already. Or even better,
realized that I don’t need that crap in the first place. (Disregard that bit if you have an iPhone
4S you don’t want – I destroyed my screen and am feeling pretty negatively
about parting with $160 to replace it.)
I don’t really have a lot of fancy hobbies – just the amount you would
expect from a typical white, privileged, raised-upper-middle-class young person
making entirely too much money. ;)
But apparently, I have pretty expensive taste. I will preface this by saying that
people who don’t live in DC don’t really understand how expensive it can be to
live in the nicer areas, wahh. But
yes, some of you might spit out whatever you’re drinking (Monday funday?) if you knew exactly how ridiculous my rent was.
I love my independence (living alone), hardwood floors (for sliding),
big windows (to creep on my neighbors), and living in a walkable, safe, and
beautiful neighborhood. In
contrast to where I live, my boyfriend’s residence can only be described as …
terrible. Not really, it’s
perfectly fine, but I feel like I would fall into a deep depression if I lived
there. (I mean, the living room has two kinds of wood paneling on the walls –
does anyone else also really hate paneling? I know I’m not alone.)
So there you have it – I have some slightly unreasonable
standards for living. As it is,
with anything related to money, I don’t have these desires because I want to
live in an expensive apartment (it’s never really about the money). I grew up in the suburbs, without my
own car as a teenager (and frankly, not much to walk to), and I really disliked
the lack of freedom and reliance on other people it necessitated. Obviously I wasn’t owed a car and
there’s nothing wrong with the 01742.
But it’s caused me to realize that what I want is to live somewhere
walkable/ bikable/ metro-able, with museums, cultural events, and performances.
And then I realized I was dealing with a logical
fallacy: I want
parks/events/things close by thus I must live somewhere expensive in the
city. Maybe it doesn’t have to be
a big city, maybe it could be smaller but have a university with plenty of
events & lectures. And I might
want the option of having a dog and a garden more than being able to walk to 10
restaurants within 5 minutes. I
know, this is groundbreaking.
Still, every time Sebastien would mention living
not-right-in-the-middle-of-a-city, it felt like an ATTACK! ON EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED! So it can be helpful to think through
the core reasons for why something’s important to you, and let go of the
deceptive conclusions. Because
then you might feel a little less crazy, and even a little happier.
Have you ever caught yourself getting really
defensive/emotional about a financial decision without knowing why? And then being brilliant and analyzing
your associations that were built from childhood to understand why? Or not. Either way, it’s cool.
Holy crap, I'm exactly the same way! But I think I just tend to have more expensive tastes. In my mind, I'm trading money for time. I'm usually willing to spend a little more to get something that won't break quickly or frustrate me often or something that I feel good about. Of course, everyone values their time and money differently.
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