Do you live in luxury? If so, what are your luxuries?

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I’ve noticed there’s a tendency where if we feel like something is supposed to be available, we get more upset than if it never was.

We had a snack machine on our hall in grad school. It had a card reader, which was always broken, and caused endless frustration. Some of us noted that, if it had been a standard snack machine that only took cash in the first place, none of us would have been that frustrated, even though the effect was pretty much the same.
 
bitterhope said:
Why do people think that Uber is a luxury? I had never heard they did. But the prices you quoted for the rental do not even come close to any I have ever seen. I know people that rent a car for the weekend to make a multistate trip and it’s never been more than $60. My husband had to rent a car for 3 weeks (21 days) and we only paid $150–$50 of that refunded as long as the car is returned undamaged with full tank of gas. So I’m not sure if that may play into why some people would think it was a luxury. Uber is not available here. Taxis either. We don’t have any public transportation at all. What we tend to do is ride with a friend or neighbor and normally it is free (or extremely cheap) if the need arises. Exceptions for crazy schedules (like my husband needing to be at work at 2:30 AM every day) or outrageous needs (multistate trips). So to me, the city bus is kind of a luxury I took for granted at previous locations. The closest any public transit is to me now is 3 towns over. Something else we don’t have is pizza delivery. Or any other food delivery for that matter.
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Yeah, that sounds totally unbelievable to me. We rent SUV’s or minivans for the teens to go to Catholic Heart Workcamp no more than 2 states over, and it’s always 400-700 per week.
 
Most of us never need to pay for a ride at all as long as you are willing to adjust to someone else’s schedule. If they are going into town they have no problem having you tag along.

These are rentals from individuals, not companies. We also have people that provide “taxi services” to the Amish and others as well. The closest car rental COMPANY ( I think it’s Enterprise) is 45 minutes away. The closest taxi company is 45 minutes away. There are things that people do for each other and side businesses people set up when no other options exist. That’s the way things work. As I said, I will miss it. This is an excellent place to raise a family. If it were up to me we would never move from here. Unfortunately that’s not the way it works. The Army reassigned my husband and now we will need to find out what is available in our new home. However in a few years and my husband retires, this is where we will return. There is no better place we’ve ever lived to raise a family. Great friendly people. Not so great Catholic communities unfortunately but those can be found here as well.
 
Yesterday I was educated a little in the rural transport services that operate here in some remote places… As I qualify for a free bus pass? Interesting idea.

And that IS luxury for us old wans…

had to look Uber up…
 
bitterhope said:
Most of us never need to pay for a ride at all as long as you are willing to adjust to someone else’s schedule. If they are going into town they have no problem having you tag along.

These are rentals from individuals, not companies. We also have people that provide “taxi services” to the Amish and others as well. The closest car rental COMPANY ( I think it’s Enterprise) is 45 minutes away. The closest taxi company is 45 minutes away. There are things that people do for each other and side businesses people set up when no other options exist. That’s the way things work. As I said, I will miss it. This is an excellent place to raise a family. If it were up to me we would never move from here. Unfortunately that’s not the way it works. The Army reassigned my husband and now we will need to find out what is available in our new home. However in a few years and my husband retires, this is where we will return. There is no better place we’ve ever lived to raise a family. Great friendly people. Not so great Catholic communities unfortunately but those can be found here as well.
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Army vet myself, and I have to ask: where is he assigned that is so remote?
 
bitterhope said:
These are rentals from individuals, not companies. We also have people that provide “taxi services” to the Amish and others as well. The closest car rental COMPANY ( I think it’s Enterprise) is 45 minutes away. The closest taxi company is 45 minutes away. There are things that people do for each other and side businesses people set up when no other options exist. That’s the way things work. As I said, I will miss it. This is an excellent place to raise a family. If it were up to me we would never move from here. Unfortunately that’s not the way it works. The Army reassigned my husband and now we will need to find out what is available in our new home. However in a few years and my husband retires, this is where we will return. There is no better place we’ve ever lived to raise a family. Great friendly people. Not so great Catholic communities unfortunately but those can be found here as well.
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Interesting.

The unofficial taxi service you mention is basically a lower tech, non-corporate version of Uber.
 
ToeInTheWater said:
Same with “CEAs” where you get a delivery of a box of produce. Although I do recall shopping at farmer’s markets since I was young, way before it was “hip”. Though, okay, at first it was my mother who actually did the shopping.

But I think the obsession with organic produce many hipsters have these days, is certainly a great example because before pesticides were invented, organic produce was, well, just ordinary produce. No one expected to score points in the Mommy Wars by providing them to their kids.

Also, it may just be where I live, but I recall going to actual “grocery stores” when I was a child. They specialized in mostly fruits and vegetables, a wide variety of them. They did sell some meats, dairy, and nonperishable foods and some household items as well, but these were not their main line of business. But little by little, such “mom and pop” stores went away and were replaced by the chain supermarkets not to mention Super Walmart, Target, etc.

The only “grocery store” still in business in my parents’ neighborhood only survived by opening a “salad bar” that has taken over most of the store’s real estate as it is very popular with locals. The store still sells produce but a much smaller selection and it’s obviously not the main source of profit for them anymore.

Well, there are special programs for housebound seniors that do feature house calls and don’t have any extra cost for the senior than it would for them to brave a trip to the doctor’s office. But certainly a “house call” would be a luxury for the average citizen.
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There is a service in the Atlanta area where a Nurse Practitioner comes to your home in a van…it’s 50 bucks, they accept your insurance, and they gave give a tetanus shot, simple antibiotics, or call in something for you if you’ve just gotten home from daycare and your baby is sniffly, or your husband has an ear infection, and has a big meeting tomorrow, or you need a new epi pen. My friend who is also a Dr. uses it for their child often. She just can’t get to the pediatrician without taking a day, (which she really can’t do) arranging a sitter, and possibly transportation home for the baby. She’s the one who told me about it. After w while, they have a file on you and they ask you when to meet you at home, calling you in advance saying "we ran into something here at this other home, it will be more like 45 mins in case you want to give the baby a bath or something.

Very cool. When you have little time to spare, or your time cones at a high personal valuation, this is a real boon for families. They will come as late as 10 pm, as early as 6 am.
 
Xantippe said:
So, again, why do we think of the Uber as being the luxury option while the car rental is the sensible, economy choice?
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It must depend on your location. Where I live, you can get a rental car for a few days for $150 pretty easily. Whereas, there aren’t alot of Uber drivers available and rides can easily cost $30 per ride. A few of those and you’ve already met your rental costs. There aren’t many places where parking is an issue and where it is, you’re talking 75 cent an hour.
 
Yeah. No parking in downtown Atlanta though, unless you work for Coke and have your own lot!
 
pianistclare said:
Yeah, that sounds totally unbelievable to me. We rent SUV’s or minivans for the teens to go to Catholic Heart Workcamp no more than 2 states over, and it’s always 400-700 per week.
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We rented a van from Enterprise for our vacation for six days and we were charged about $350. We did have an extra fee because we were dropping off in a different state than we picked it up, and it cost extra because it was a minivan.
 
SuperLuigi said:
**The average Catholic IS selfish because they make all of these lame excuses about not having families **and like much of the rest of the American/Western/East Asian public whine and complain when their entitlements are in danger (Well, DUH!) or that it’s all too expensive. They do none of the things you list below.

[snip]

Having a crampy house in the burbs, a cabin at the lake and an iphone, laptop and college education (really to de-catechize your kids) for each child is absurd especially when people in general and not just Catholics say “but it’s too expensive”! :crying:
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So many thoughts!

–Is it actually true that the average Catholic “make all of these lame excuses about not having families” or did you mean “large families”? Because avoiding children altogether is still a minority lifestyle.
–I realize that there are US regional cultures where “a cabin at the lake” is a normal thing to have (Michigan?), but in probably 80% of the US, it isn’t. I can’t think of any young families that I know who have a second home just for fun.
–I don’t think there’s an epidemic of young Americans foregoing kids in order to have a second home. Young Americans are lucky not to be living with their parents–we are at a 75 year high, with 40% of young adults living with their parents or other family members.

cbsnews.com/news/percentage-of-young-americans-living-with-their-parents-is-40-percent-a-75-year-high/

–When people are talking about children being “too expensive!” are they actually talking about iphones and laptops? That sort of expense doesn’t kick in for 10-15 years.
–In practice, isn’t it more likely that they are talking about daycare? Daycare costs as much as buying a new iphone or two new iphones every month (depending on your area).
–People focus on electronics as being frills, but the truth is that electronics are pretty darn cheap. Amazon is offering a Kindle Fire for $50 (a fraction of what it was 5 years ago when I bought mine). I was just looking at Amazon for laptops, and they’re really not expensive, especially compared to 10-15 years ago. Again, they cost a fraction of what they used to.
–I think older people are used to thinking about stuff as expensive, but the truth is that stuff is less and less expensive (which is why the typical American home is buried in it).
–So, what is expensive? Basically, anything that doesn’t say “Made in China” on it–childcare, education, housing and medical care. With the exception of housing, those are all things that are labor-intensive services. There isn’t a single iphone in my household, but a year and a half ago, our share of an oral surgery for our teenager was $2400 after insurance. Our family has gotten used to $700 ER visits (again, after insurance).
–So, ironically, “frills” (like laptops) are cheap while necessities are expensive.
–With regard to college, there’s a fairly neat correlation between level of education and earnings:

bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-weekly-earnings-by-education-gender-race-and-ethnicity-in-2014.htm

Also, non-college educated people always have higher unemployment, especially during recessions. It’s also typically physically harder to do blue collar work as one gets older.
–There are also a lot more issues with regard to out-of-wedlock parenthood and divorce in the non-college world. Even at the same income level, the families are more fragile.
–These days, it’s hard for non-college women to get married and have children in marriage. Like it or not, the BA tends to be a prerequisite for the MRS.
–I know there tends to be a lot of griping about unnecessary activities for kids (and yes, there are some stupidly expensive ones), but keeping kids busy and out of trouble is both expensive and worth it.

theamericanconservative.com/dreher/confederate-jesus-coming-for-public-schools/

The tldr on that is that Rod Dreher talks to a cleaning lady who has basically given up on keeping her four tween and teen daughters out of trouble with the internet. On the one hand, it would be easy to point a finger at her for being so neglectful, but on the other hand, she’s probably working a lot, doesn’t have a lot of money, time or energy, and lastly has what sounds like no social support from school or other parents.
–Speaking as a (forgive the expression) more privileged mom, I squeak with horror reading that description in Dreher’s blog post, but it goes a long way to explaining why middle class families are so big into activities and keeping the kids busy and finding them a good peer group, and it also explains why people put as much effort as they do into avoiding bad public schools. If that’s going to involve paying for a house in an expensive district or private school, then that brings us back to kids being expensive (housing costs reflect perceived differences in school quality).
–An old rule of thumb says not to have a mortgage bigger than 2X yearly income. In 2014, the median household income was about $52k, while the median home price was $189k. Houston, we have a problem. Now, theoretically, the median family could put down an $85k downpayment and be OK–but saving an $85k downpayment would (once again) tend to delay marriage and/or delay childbearing.
–All in all, small family size is overdetermined.
–Lastly, I would encourage starting out with the assumption that if almost everybody is doing X and I think X is stupid, then almost everybody is being stupid. It makes more sense to start with the possibility that whatever large numbers of people are doing makes some sort of sense in their environment, even if it doesn’t in mine.
–Thanks for reading to the bottom!
 
pianistclare said:
There is a service in the Atlanta area where a Nurse Practitioner comes to your home in a van…it’s 50 bucks, they accept your insurance, and they gave give a tetanus shot, simple antibiotics, or call in something for you if you’ve just gotten home from daycare and your baby is sniffly, or your husband has an ear infection, and has a big meeting tomorrow, or you need a new epi pen. My friend who is also a Dr. uses it for their child often. She just can’t get to the pediatrician without taking a day, (which she really can’t do) arranging a sitter, and possibly transportation home for the baby. She’s the one who told me about it. After w while, they have a file on you and they ask you when to meet you at home, calling you in advance saying "we ran into something here at this other home, it will be more like 45 mins in case you want to give the baby a bath or something.

Very cool. When you have little time to spare, or your time cones at a high personal valuation, this is a real boon for families. They will come as late as 10 pm, as early as 6 am.
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Oh, wow.
 
Allegra said:
It must depend on your location. Where I live, you can get a rental car for a few days for $150 pretty easily. Whereas, there aren’t alot of Uber drivers available and rides can easily cost $30 per ride. A few of those and you’ve already met your rental costs. There aren’t many places where parking is an issue and where it is, you’re talking 75 cent an hour.
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I’ve taken a bunch of $6 and $7 trips the last few days.

We seem to have a lot of people driving here.
 
BoomBoomMancini said:
Army vet myself, and I have to ask: where is he assigned that is so remote?
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Well he’s assigned to Ft. Campbell but after we were here a while we bought a house about an hour and 15 mins from post (in Western KY). Clarksville, TN is right outside post and quite large. They have city busses and even a bus you can ride all the way to Nashville for city bus fare. Hopkinsville, KY is smaller with very limited options in way of public transit. We actually live west of Hopkinsville–about 45 mins west. Out here it is Amish buggies more than cars (not quite but you get the picture). We are right in the path of the eclipse so maybe some here might be heading this way for it. The last I heard the area is planning on 100,000-500,000 visitors. I highly recommend it if you can make it. The area is beautiful, the people are friendly, and it is ultra affordable. Even the larger towns and cities are very low cost. Unfortunately our family will miss out on the eclipse. We are moving next week to Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Part of the reason my kids are so devastated about this move. They have been looking forward to the eclipse for several years now. We had thought the Army forgot about us. Before this assignment we moved every 18-36 months. We have been in the area for 6 years now. We are counting the days for retirement. This has become home to us and we will return here for sure. Leonard Wood is supposed to be a 3 year assignment. He will be a drill instructor so no deployments. That is a blessing. Ft. Campbell deploys a lot. My husband needs a break from that. We pray that in 3 years we will be reassigned here but if not we will still return for retirement. Now that we own a home we are renting it out. That will help with the costs and for the first time ever we will have disposable income. God is truly good! We do feel we live luxorious lives. We never imagined having things so good
 
bitterhope said:
Well he’s assigned to Ft. Campbell but after we were here a while we bought a house about an hour and 15 mins from post (in Western KY). Clarksville, TN is right outside post and quite large. They have city busses and even a bus you can ride all the way to Nashville for city bus fare. Hopkinsville, KY is smaller with very limited options in way of public transit. We actually live west of Hopkinsville–about 45 mins west. Out here it is Amish buggies more than cars (not quite but you get the picture). We are right in the path of the eclipse so maybe some here might be heading this way for it. The last I heard the area is planning on 100,000-500,000 visitors. I highly recommend it if you can make it. The area is beautiful, the people are friendly, and it is ultra affordable. Even the larger towns and cities are very low cost. Unfortunately our family will miss out on the eclipse. We are moving next week to Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Part of the reason my kids are so devastated about this move. They have been looking forward to the eclipse for several years now. We had thought the Army forgot about us. Before this assignment we moved every 18-36 months. We have been in the area for 6 years now. We are counting the days for retirement. This has become home to us and we will return here for sure. Leonard Wood is supposed to be a 3 year assignment. He will be a drill instructor so no deployments. That is a blessing. Ft. Campbell deploys a lot. My husband needs a break from that. We pray that in 3 years we will be reassigned here but if not we will still return for retirement. Now that we own a home we are renting it out. That will help with the costs and for the first time ever we will have disposable income. God is truly good! We do feel we live luxorious lives. We never imagined having things so good
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Ah, gotcha. So living in such a quiet area was a choice, not something imposed by the Army.
 
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