Today was a very good day.
By the end of business today, I had deposited into the bank $3,935.47.
I felt so good, I treated myself to Starbucks. Yes...I know - I'm a spendthrift to the end (I even got the Venti - go big or go home! That's what I say!) and Dave Ramsey would berate me for my extravagance, but I did the math, and that cup of coffee is about .054% of the amount of money I banked today - and I can live with that.
I also got a good lesson in perspective over the last couple of evenings. I saw my sister in law last night and was kvetching about my tax bill (kvetching - verb - the act of complaining, whining, moaning and groaning, or any combination thereof). When I told her it was over $8,000, she said, "Wow, that's low." I was speechless - surely she must have misheard me or have some terrible misconception of this whole high/low concept as it relates to our planet. She then went on to tell me that her school taxes in her very upscale neighborhood were $44,000. That's just the school tax. Total property taxes come to a whopping total of $60,000.
Yeah, I know. My eyes popped out of my head, too.
That was last night. Tonight we watched our latest library rental DVD, "The Pursuit of Happyness". I'm flagging this movie as recommended viewing for everyone trying to get out of debt. I won't give the story away, but suffice it to say that it makes you realize how bad things can get, how good you've got it, and what can be accomplished when you put your mind, body and soul into something.
So, upon further examination, maybe it's me that's got this whole high/low thing mixed up. Even at my very lowest point in this whole financial mishagash (mishagash - yiddish noun - meaning craziness, loosely translated), I've always had a roof over my head, I've always found a way to feed my family, and my taxes were never as high as some people's salary.
All in all, things are pretty good. Are they where I want them to be? Of course not. But things get better. Day by day, bit by bit, they get better.
Yep...today was a very good day.
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3 comments:
You did really well today. Congratulations! You can let the coffee thing slide, I guess.
Oh yeah, if you ever want to move, I suggest Northern California. Not San Francisco coz that would be just as expensive as NY but on the outskirts, about an hour or so from SF. Nice weather, nice people, nice schools, reasonable property tax and NO school taxes. Well, maybe a little bit. We pay Mello Roos tax which is about $300/year.
Thanks, Chick.
Thanks for the location input, too. I used to have family up around Shasta Mountain - beautiful area.
By the way, I'm not sure what that tax is, but Mello Roos sounds more like the name of a loanshark on Valium. ;)
My sons and I just watched that movie together last month and it was just as you mentioned..Excellent motivation!!
$44k just for taxes. UNREAL!!
You've got a Great blog. Love reading it.
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