[extropy-chat] change of topic

Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 12 22:32:19 UTC 2005


--- Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:

> I would also point out that even if you live frugally and without a 
> second car (not a luxury if commuting by two to different locations 
> including one ferrying kids around and taking care of the home), big 
> screen TV etc, raising even a small family in many parts of the
> country is barely possible if at all  for many single earner
> households in the US. The effective costs are quite high unless one
> does a lot off the normal consumer grid.

The biggest consumer expense today is debt. Don't get into debt to
start with and watch your standard of living go up. Buy what you need
in cash, don't borrow, don't get yourself in a position where you need
to borrow. Getting off the grid is not hard, and not a sacrifice. Even
here in relatively high cost of living NH, it is only hard if that is
the life you choose. 

And don't live some place with a big public school system. People think
that public schools save them time. It doesn't. As we've shown, the
average public school education costs $9,000. If you have three kids,
it is only cost effective for both spouses to work outside the home if
the lowest wage earner has a TAKE HOME income of ~$40k. If you make
that much, you could quit your jobs, keep your taxes, homeschool your
kids, have one less car (That extra $13k covers vehicle loan,
insurance, operating costs, etc. as well as after school babysitting,
etc.), and have the exact same standard of living.

If spousal equality is so important, each could take a part time job
instead of a full time one, share in the schooling etc and have the
same standard of living. Getting off the tax grid is the important thing.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list