BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Mothers Face Hiring Disadvantages

Great post Elise. I live in an 1100 sq. foot, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath townhouse. All the furniture was bought at yard sales. Even after refinancing the mortgage last April to cover some home repairs and improvements, the payment is still only $498 per month. That's quite cheap where I live. The equivalent townhome in my neighborhood will rent for $1100-$1200 per month. Other than my mortgage, I have zero debts. When I am home, I eat at home and never go out to restaurants.

I drive a 13 year old Suzuki Sidekick that averages 30 mpg. I don't have air conditioning in my house, I use a ceiling fan instead. It helps to live at 7300 feet above sea level in a dry climate. The temperature can hit 90 degrees here on a hot summer day, but it's usually followed by a night time temp in the 50s.

I contribute 6% of my salary to a 401K plan. My employer provides a 4% match. Another 5% of my salary is put into a mutual fund savings plan at my bank. I may have to use some of this money to buy a new car when the Suzuki needs to be replaced. I haven't owned a TV in eleven years. My stereo system is a cheapy Wal Mart CD player/cassette player. Other than outdoor sports guides, I never buy books. The inter library loan service at my local library is terrific. I have no need for newspaper or magazine subscriptions. Bike and Ski magazines can be read at the library. Israeli newspapers can be read online.

I plead guilty to having a really nice stereo, a really nice Mac laptop, an 80-gig iPod, and a really nice CD/MP3 collection. I have perhaps $25K worth of beautiful instruments, too, collected over a lifetime.
I can't deny being a consumer either. I own 2 bikes, XC skis, alpine skis and alpine touring ski gear. I recently drove said Suzuki 1000 miles around Central Colorado on a 10 day vacation. The Suzuki gets plenty of miles during the ski season as well. I enjoy riding my bike over big mountain passes, but not loaded down with panniers. A photo link to yours truly on Loveland Pass, Colorado (el 11,990') is below.
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Mike, I'm laughing at the sports gear. I have a snowboard habit - I'm up to six so far - and I'm sure that after I go to ride at Aspen with the boys next year I'll come home with another one. We did a comparison on the forum I belong to last year, about how much we spend per day of riding - including the cost of new gear, travelling, lodging, passes etc. Mine was $262 per day. Scary! But not as scary, and oh so much more fun, than paying for Bruce's braces or Jemima's ballet lessons!

I've had coworkers who pay thousands of dollars a year for their daughters' cheerleading classes and competitions. I don't get it. These women want their kids to have the best chance of becoming cheerleaders in high school, so they have to start them in classes from age 4 or so. It's crazy. I guess that's the big thing down here in Texas. They have these huge competitions and the troupes from the different lesson places go and compete. The girls wear skimpy outfits and lots of makeup. It's so fake. I guess it's a good thing I don't have kids, my daughters would hate me because I would refuse to pay for those kinds of things. I mean, how many girls go on to a career in cheerleading? Not too many, I think!

Cindy

Yep, I know a guy whose daughter is part of an Irish dance troupe, and the outfits for her last competition were $1100...

The scary thing is that even the very, very few girls who eventually gain employment through dance, cheering, ice skating, etc. only get a few good years out of it. They spend their entire lives in training, forgoing most of childhood. Their parents spend their life savings on training, forgoing retirement savings, and the girl is extremely lucky if her body hasn't given out by age 30. Then she finds herself very ill-prepared to provide for herself. The best many of these girls can hope for is a career as a "has-been" training girls to go down her own path.

After they're done coaching cheerleaders, they can go on to judge pageants for little girls. You know, Jon-Benet style.

At least the cheerleading has an athletic facet to it. But just about all of it sends the wrong message. Have these girls, or their school systems, heard about Title 9? Go play your own sports, girls, and let the fans cheer without being "led"!!!

We pay so much lip service to how incensed we are about child porn and the oversexualization of teens, and then pimp them out to the max, grinding away on the sidelines while the boys play football. It is obscene.

Elise
happy to work at a high school with no cheerleaders, no football (we play soccer), and plenty of girls' sports teams

Elsie:

I agree...it IS obscene. And we wonder why kids "grow up too fast." I think the parents are pushing it all the way.

Over on the LiveJournal childfree over 30 community, there's a discussion right now about the pageant industry. It is BEYOND. Here is the webpage of a company that has the sheer gall to call itself "Natural Beauties".

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Elise, I followed that link and sat here with my mouth gaping open as I viewed the sample photos. They made those children look like plastic dolls. They don't look like people at all!

I have a one word reply for those "photos":

WTF????????????????????