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145 posts
Location: Little Rock, AR
145 posts
Location: Little Rock, AR
Posted:
Discussion about hurricane Katrina has made me wonder just what I do and don't know about people and how they live in other countries, and in other areas of the United States.
Just how different am I, if at all, from everyone else because I've been raised the way I've been raised.
Well, let me start.
My father is a minister, so I was raised with well-rounded morals and high expectations as to how I should live and what I should do with my life. I wouldn't all my father being a minister as having a priveledged life. We never had new clothes, we shopped at second-hand stores all the time. We took advantage of food banks and coupons. We lived on beans, rice and pasta - very simple, very basic.
Years later, I am now 25 with three children and am married to a military man. He's been in the service for 13 years, now. and just recently he was promoted to a higher status. This higher status has allowed us to, finally, get a dependable vehicle and let go of our two, old 1992 dodge blazers that we kept alive for years.
We live in a rental home that is not in the greatest neighborhood. It's small, barely big enough for a family of 5. But it has a decent yard where the kids can play, and it's fairly close to my son's school. However, it's 30 minutes away from where my husband works. So, there goes gas and other expenses.
A few months ago we began saving and planning on buying a house in a town that's closer to my husbands work. However - with gas prices getting higher, we decided to forgo buying a home and stay put where we are. Possibly we will ask to be moved on post so we can spare his travel time to and from work.
In one years time he will be sent to Iraq, at least that's the plan for him, things might change. Then what? I don't know.
So, how do I live compared to everyone else? We put money into our savings account to cover vehicle issues and health care expenses. I spend a budgeted amount on food each week, I wash clothes twice a week, I do yard work and all the good around-the-house stuff there is to do. I don't work - daycare for my daughter (she just turned one) is expensive and the idea of someone else taking care of her isn't really what I'm comfortable with. My two sons are in school and doing well.
We don't go out to eat very much, either sit-down or drive-through. We, really, don't spend much on things other than the bills and the basics.
What are my bills? We have cell phones instead of a house-phone because it's cheaper. We have cable and high-speed internet connections. We pay for electric, gas, water, vehicle insurance, monthly rent and we make payments on a few, old school loans from when my husband was being schooled for aircraft maintenance.
All of our expenses total around $1,600/mth - which I consider to be average (is it? I don't know, what's average?) that also includes our budgeted allowance for gasoline, which is getting higher and higher.
Now, I did live years on an income 1/2 of my current expenses. I know that living that was wouldn't have been possible for me if gasoline was $3.50/gallon. Back then - gas, at most, was $1.25. Incredible was a few years can bring.
I've lived on government handouts, before. I received a welfare allowance and food stamps, which I detested. However, I can see how some people can live on government assistance and be ok with it and not try to let go of it.
Where you live makes a big difference. I live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas being on the lower-end of the average income chart. New York and places of the such being on the high end. One of my sisters lived in New York for years - her monthly apartment rental was in excess of what my husband earns in one month. I thought that was rediculous - but that's the way things go.
When my daughter turns 4 she will go into pre-k, and then I'll be able to continue with college. My plan is to get my degree in business management in order to work for or begin my own business that's based on consignment. (Consignment is when someone makes their product and sells it through a store. I would consign jewelry and clothing, things of that nature.) I am big on home-made this and that. I sew clothes, I make jewelery (just for fun: corset )
( and: simple necklace )
However, with less and less people having extra money to spend on such things - I'm beginning to wonder if planning a business based on the sale of such things is even an option anymore.
Anyway - that's my life. And I'm posting all of this because I am wondering where I stand compared to everyone else. I know where I stand compared to the people around me. There are the poor, the middle-class, the upper-middle-class and the rich. We're at the bottom: between the poor and the middle class.
Discussion about hurricane Katrina has made me wonder just what I do and don't know about people and how they live in other countries, and in other areas of the United States.
Just how different am I, if at all, from everyone else because I've been raised the way I've been raised.
Well, let me start.
My father is a minister, so I was raised with well-rounded morals and high expectations as to how I should live and what I should do with my life. I wouldn't all my father being a minister as having a priveledged life. We never had new clothes, we shopped at second-hand stores all the time. We took advantage of food banks and coupons. We lived on beans, rice and pasta - very simple, very basic.
Years later, I am now 25 with three children and am married to a military man. He's been in the service for 13 years, now. and just recently he was promoted to a higher status. This higher status has allowed us to, finally, get a dependable vehicle and let go of our two, old 1992 dodge blazers that we kept alive for years.
We live in a rental home that is not in the greatest neighborhood. It's small, barely big enough for a family of 5. But it has a decent yard where the kids can play, and it's fairly close to my son's school. However, it's 30 minutes away from where my husband works. So, there goes gas and other expenses.
A few months ago we began saving and planning on buying a house in a town that's closer to my husbands work. However - with gas prices getting higher, we decided to forgo buying a home and stay put where we are. Possibly we will ask to be moved on post so we can spare his travel time to and from work.
In one years time he will be sent to Iraq, at least that's the plan for him, things might change. Then what? I don't know.
So, how do I live compared to everyone else? We put money into our savings account to cover vehicle issues and health care expenses. I spend a budgeted amount on food each week, I wash clothes twice a week, I do yard work and all the good around-the-house stuff there is to do. I don't work - daycare for my daughter (she just turned one) is expensive and the idea of someone else taking care of her isn't really what I'm comfortable with. My two sons are in school and doing well.
We don't go out to eat very much, either sit-down or drive-through. We, really, don't spend much on things other than the bills and the basics.
What are my bills? We have cell phones instead of a house-phone because it's cheaper. We have cable and high-speed internet connections. We pay for electric, gas, water, vehicle insurance, monthly rent and we make payments on a few, old school loans from when my husband was being schooled for aircraft maintenance.
All of our expenses total around $1,600/mth - which I consider to be average (is it? I don't know, what's average?) that also includes our budgeted allowance for gasoline, which is getting higher and higher.
Now, I did live years on an income 1/2 of my current expenses. I know that living that was wouldn't have been possible for me if gasoline was $3.50/gallon. Back then - gas, at most, was $1.25. Incredible was a few years can bring.
I've lived on government handouts, before. I received a welfare allowance and food stamps, which I detested. However, I can see how some people can live on government assistance and be ok with it and not try to let go of it.
Where you live makes a big difference. I live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas being on the lower-end of the average income chart. New York and places of the such being on the high end. One of my sisters lived in New York for years - her monthly apartment rental was in excess of what my husband earns in one month. I thought that was rediculous - but that's the way things go.
When my daughter turns 4 she will go into pre-k, and then I'll be able to continue with college. My plan is to get my degree in business management in order to work for or begin my own business that's based on consignment. (Consignment is when someone makes their product and sells it through a store. I would consign jewelry and clothing, things of that nature.) I am big on home-made this and that. I sew clothes, I make jewelery (just for fun: corset )
( and: simple necklace )
However, with less and less people having extra money to spend on such things - I'm beginning to wonder if planning a business based on the sale of such things is even an option anymore.
Anyway - that's my life. And I'm posting all of this because I am wondering where I stand compared to everyone else. I know where I stand compared to the people around me. There are the poor, the middle-class, the upper-middle-class and the rich. We're at the bottom: between the poor and the middle class.
"I'm your Huckleberry."
The muse spake her thought and then there was silence. Thy spiked tongue had melted, only a bitter heart remained.
SILVER Member
with added berries
1,365 posts
Location: Manchester, England (UK)
with added berries
1,365 posts
Location: Manchester, England (UK)
Posted:
GCSEs are what everyone takes at school age 16. AS levels are age 17 and A levels age 18.
I eat a lot of junk, I'm absolutly addicted to chocolate. When I'm trying to be healthy and cook I make a lot of beef dishes (ie chilli etc) and stir fry's. I also make a nice celery and apple soup that I become addicted to in the winter, it's a bit unusual but really nice.
I mainly drink water (well got to balance it out somewhere), if not I like lemonade or hot chocolate. (I know I drink luike an 8-year old!).
GCSEs are what everyone takes at school age 16. AS levels are age 17 and A levels age 18.
I eat a lot of junk, I'm absolutly addicted to chocolate. When I'm trying to be healthy and cook I make a lot of beef dishes (ie chilli etc) and stir fry's. I also make a nice celery and apple soup that I become addicted to in the winter, it's a bit unusual but really nice.
I mainly drink water (well got to balance it out somewhere), if not I like lemonade or hot chocolate. (I know I drink luike an 8-year old!).
Live like there is no tomorrow,
dance like nobody is watching
and hula hoop like wiggling will save the world.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
SILVER Member
....of doom!
585 posts
Location: Hastings, UK
....of doom!
585 posts
Location: Hastings, UK
Posted:
ok so...i'm almost 20 (in a week!) and i live on the coast in a rural part of south east england.
i was brought up in a fairly unconventional way, my parents are teachers and (contrary to popular belief) they don't get paid very much. due to this and their personal beliefs when i was little i was clothed in second hand and home-made clothes, we ate a LOT of lentils and lived without a tv until i was 7. i was the only child in my primary school class without a tv. i'm still surprised at what a stigma it was.
i lived in a terraced house on a private road with a HUGE communal garden. most of the other houses were holiday homes, so i had friends during the summer holidays and that was pretty much it. i grew up mainly in the company of myself, some pretty unusual adults and eventually my two younger siblings.
anyway, eventually things changed, my parents got a bit richer (i'm not sure how this happened, not much seems to have changed job-wise) and we moved. i can still see my old house from the bottom of my garden. i still live with my parents in the 'new' house. its nice. we're still a lot poorer than our neighbours (we were lucky, the lady selling this wanted a quick sale).
i work part time at a chemists. i'm looking for a full time job but the nearest town is very poor (despite its surroundings) and has very few jobs. everything wants someone with experience..i don't have much.
i've got A level and post A level qualifications, but i didnt go to university because i cannot face the debt. I'll probably regret it.
I don't drive, i cant afford to learn, let alone run a car. the public transport here is shocking, although it is slowly improving. we recently got a sunday bus service, which was the highlight of my month.
i dont know. those are random things i can think of.
oh, and i'm not a patriot.
ok so...i'm almost 20 (in a week!) and i live on the coast in a rural part of south east england.
i was brought up in a fairly unconventional way, my parents are teachers and (contrary to popular belief) they don't get paid very much. due to this and their personal beliefs when i was little i was clothed in second hand and home-made clothes, we ate a LOT of lentils and lived without a tv until i was 7. i was the only child in my primary school class without a tv. i'm still surprised at what a stigma it was.
i lived in a terraced house on a private road with a HUGE communal garden. most of the other houses were holiday homes, so i had friends during the summer holidays and that was pretty much it. i grew up mainly in the company of myself, some pretty unusual adults and eventually my two younger siblings.
anyway, eventually things changed, my parents got a bit richer (i'm not sure how this happened, not much seems to have changed job-wise) and we moved. i can still see my old house from the bottom of my garden. i still live with my parents in the 'new' house. its nice. we're still a lot poorer than our neighbours (we were lucky, the lady selling this wanted a quick sale).
i work part time at a chemists. i'm looking for a full time job but the nearest town is very poor (despite its surroundings) and has very few jobs. everything wants someone with experience..i don't have much.
i've got A level and post A level qualifications, but i didnt go to university because i cannot face the debt. I'll probably regret it.
I don't drive, i cant afford to learn, let alone run a car. the public transport here is shocking, although it is slowly improving. we recently got a sunday bus service, which was the highlight of my month.
i dont know. those are random things i can think of.
oh, and i'm not a patriot.
BRONZE Member
old hand
1,107 posts
Location: In a test pit, Mackay, Australia
old hand
1,107 posts
Location: In a test pit, Mackay, Australia
Posted:
I'm pushing 30 and wondering where the hell my life went. If you've not celebrated a birthday sonce you were 19 (gets too depressing) does aging still count?
I live in tropical Australia having been born in subtropical australia and lived in the UK for 14 years, I've been to 46 countries, spent 10 years at university, ran a rock mechanics laboratory and now specialise in mining infrastructure, though I get the odd house foundation thrown in for comic relief.
I rent a really nice place, and soon to buy something else, I effectively live with my boyfriend, and we're making wedding plans though nothing official will be announced until we have our own place and a bit of money behind us. Both us us are top tax-bracket, him as a diesel fitter servicing the mines, me as an engineering geologist, and as neither of us go out much we're saving quite a lot.
I'm 15 minutes from the beach, the barrier reef is about 30km offshore here, I caught a 75cm mackeral on Saturday, I spend lots of time in the Whitsundays (working, boo!), drive a spanky new 3.5l V8 and have quite a priviledged life.
I was raised middle-class, and will continue to be so. I don't aspire to lots of money or anything, to be happy is all I want, and right now I am.
I'm pushing 30 and wondering where the hell my life went. If you've not celebrated a birthday sonce you were 19 (gets too depressing) does aging still count?
I live in tropical Australia having been born in subtropical australia and lived in the UK for 14 years, I've been to 46 countries, spent 10 years at university, ran a rock mechanics laboratory and now specialise in mining infrastructure, though I get the odd house foundation thrown in for comic relief.
I rent a really nice place, and soon to buy something else, I effectively live with my boyfriend, and we're making wedding plans though nothing official will be announced until we have our own place and a bit of money behind us. Both us us are top tax-bracket, him as a diesel fitter servicing the mines, me as an engineering geologist, and as neither of us go out much we're saving quite a lot.
I'm 15 minutes from the beach, the barrier reef is about 30km offshore here, I caught a 75cm mackeral on Saturday, I spend lots of time in the Whitsundays (working, boo!), drive a spanky new 3.5l V8 and have quite a priviledged life.
I was raised middle-class, and will continue to be so. I don't aspire to lots of money or anything, to be happy is all I want, and right now I am.
There is a slight possibility that I am not actually right all of the time.
resident fridge magnet
835 posts
Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
835 posts
Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Posted:
Nice thread Julie!
Like Saya, i live in the Netherlands, and have done pretty much everything by bike and public transport all my life - except when hitching rides with parents/boyfriends. I don't even have a driver's license, but that's only because it's so expensive to get one: i will once I graduate and find a job.
I grew up in a medium-sized (by dutch standards - tiny anywhere else
) town in the middle of the country, then went to university in the lovely town of Utrecht when I was 17, and moved into a student flat here when I was 18: I've been living in the same house ever since. I have a large room, and my own kitchen, which is rare in student houses, and a HUGE bonus as far as I'm concernced. I have 2 flatmates, also in their mid 20s, and the only space we share is the bathroom.
I'm poised to start writing my MA thesis, which I hope to finish in December. After that I'd love to get a job with a non-profit organisation in either the peacebuilding or development field: I've worked in that area before and can't imagine being truly happy anywhere else. But those jobs are few and far between, and the economic situation here isn't great right now, so to start with I'll just settle for anything that pays! I expect to be able to find something, but if you have to, it is possible to get by on wellfare here.
After I graduate, I'm moving in with my boyfriend, which is both very exiting and very scary
The dutch government is very nice to students: higher education is relatively cheap, like Saya said you get free public transport, and a monthly allowance. It doesn't cover the bills, but if you have a part-time job for 1 or 2 days a week you're fine. There's no real hardship, and every student has to go through the occasional having a chunk of month left over at the end of your money, and you find yourself living on ketchup sandwiches and ketchup pasta for a week
As a family, we were always in the 'comfortable' range, getting slightly more so as time wore on. My father works in IT, my mother is an interpreter/translator. We used to go and visit my relatives in England every year (my father's English), and we used to go somewhere else each summer too, usually camping trips to neighbouring countries. The past couple of years my boyfriend & I have gone on holiday to England & Ireland to see our relatives and friends. My parents split up when I was 16 and my brother was 13 - I get along very well with both my parents and my "little" brother (he's 21 now but i think he'll always be my little brother), and my parents are generally on very civil terms with each other. I think it's time my mother found herself a nice boyfriend though!
Food & drink: The Dutch cuisine, isn't It consists of potatoes with cabbage mashed through them served with a sausage or some other form of meat. Thank heavens for globalisation!!!! I love cooking and eating food from all around the world, though Italian and Chinese/Thai seem to be what i tend to make the most - mainly because there are so many quick and easy but delicious dishes you can make. I'm a veggie.... kind of...but not a hardcore one: I do eat fish, which makes no sense because the same moral objections I have to meat (mainly to do with intensive farming and the bio-industry) apply to fish, but I can't bring myself to stop eating it altogether... I love it too much.
Drinks: have to start the day with a coffee!! Am a big tea drinker in winter, drink a lot of water, fresh fruit juices (am also a huge fruit eater like you, Julie). Alcohol: I drink maybe 2 days a week, wine at home sometimes, or beer when I go out, anything at poi meets. Every once in a while it's fun to get a bit drunk, but definitely not on a regular basis.
Voila! Next, please
Nice thread Julie!
Like Saya, i live in the Netherlands, and have done pretty much everything by bike and public transport all my life - except when hitching rides with parents/boyfriends. I don't even have a driver's license, but that's only because it's so expensive to get one: i will once I graduate and find a job.
I grew up in a medium-sized (by dutch standards - tiny anywhere else
) town in the middle of the country, then went to university in the lovely town of Utrecht when I was 17, and moved into a student flat here when I was 18: I've been living in the same house ever since. I have a large room, and my own kitchen, which is rare in student houses, and a HUGE bonus as far as I'm concernced. I have 2 flatmates, also in their mid 20s, and the only space we share is the bathroom.I'm poised to start writing my MA thesis, which I hope to finish in December. After that I'd love to get a job with a non-profit organisation in either the peacebuilding or development field: I've worked in that area before and can't imagine being truly happy anywhere else. But those jobs are few and far between, and the economic situation here isn't great right now, so to start with I'll just settle for anything that pays!
I expect to be able to find something, but if you have to, it is possible to get by on wellfare here.After I graduate, I'm moving in with my boyfriend, which is both very exiting and very scary
The dutch government is very nice to students: higher education is relatively cheap, like Saya said you get free public transport, and a monthly allowance. It doesn't cover the bills, but if you have a part-time job for 1 or 2 days a week you're fine. There's no real hardship, and every student has to go through the occasional having a chunk of month left over at the end of your money, and you find yourself living on ketchup sandwiches and ketchup pasta for a week
As a family, we were always in the 'comfortable' range, getting slightly more so as time wore on. My father works in IT, my mother is an interpreter/translator. We used to go and visit my relatives in England every year (my father's English), and we used to go somewhere else each summer too, usually camping trips to neighbouring countries. The past couple of years my boyfriend & I have gone on holiday to England & Ireland to see our relatives and friends. My parents split up when I was 16 and my brother was 13 - I get along very well with both my parents and my "little" brother (he's 21 now but i think he'll always be my little brother), and my parents are generally on very civil terms with each other. I think it's time my mother found herself a nice boyfriend though!
Food & drink: The Dutch cuisine, isn't
It consists of potatoes with cabbage mashed through them served with a sausage or some other form of meat. Thank heavens for globalisation!!!! I love cooking and eating food from all around the world, though Italian and Chinese/Thai seem to be what i tend to make the most - mainly because there are so many quick and easy but delicious dishes you can make. I'm a veggie.... kind of...but not a hardcore one: I do eat fish, which makes no sense because the same moral objections I have to meat (mainly to do with intensive farming and the bio-industry) apply to fish, but I can't bring myself to stop eating it altogether... I love it too much. Drinks: have to start the day with a coffee!! Am a big tea drinker in winter, drink a lot of water, fresh fruit juices (am also a huge fruit eater like you, Julie). Alcohol: I drink maybe 2 days a week, wine at home sometimes, or beer when I go out, anything at poi meets
. Every once in a while it's fun to get a bit drunk, but definitely not on a regular basis.Voila! Next, please
everyone's unique except me
geek, level 1
5,300 posts
Location: everywhere
5,300 posts
Location: everywhere
Posted:
was it 'most educational non school thing' someone asked?
er.
i'm going to go with omething someone else wrote: i grew up with no tv and no mains electricity: lots of books and outdoor playing
i can read a novel in a day and have an excellent memory for random information.
my parents and brother are all in 'arts' whatever that means. my father is a musician andy T, my mother is an artist living in france, and my brother dances will T and this pretty much showed me that you don't have to do a 'regular' job. i have a degree in chemistry, so am really rob thorburn BSc but i don't bother. the degree is more for my own benefit(as in its nice to nkow i can stick out a project i don't really enjoy for three years)
my grandfather is a reverend but doesn't push me to be religious
i was scottish under16 scrabble champion
i am *really* bad at drawing.
i didn't mean this to be random facts, but there you go
thanks julie, i'm really enjoying this thread.
was it 'most educational non school thing' someone asked?
er.
i'm going to go with omething someone else wrote: i grew up with no tv and no mains electricity: lots of books and outdoor playing
i can read a novel in a day and have an excellent memory for random information.
my parents and brother are all in 'arts' whatever that means. my father is a musician andy T, my mother is an artist living in france, and my brother dances will T and this pretty much showed me that you don't have to do a 'regular' job. i have a degree in chemistry, so am really rob thorburn BSc but i don't bother. the degree is more for my own benefit(as in its nice to nkow i can stick out a project i don't really enjoy for three years)
my grandfather is a reverend but doesn't push me to be religious
i was scottish under16 scrabble champion
i am *really* bad at drawing.
i didn't mean this to be random facts, but there you go
thanks julie, i'm really enjoying this thread.
Holistic Spinner (I hope)
SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
2,444 posts
Location: Bristol !!!!!!, United Kingdom
Pooh-Bah
2,444 posts
Location: Bristol !!!!!!, United Kingdom
Posted:
OK this thread is really good to be able to find out about people - i have enjoyed reading others posts so i'll return the favour.
I'm 23 and live in Bath with my boyfriend, at the moment. It's nice historical town with some lovely baths
just south from Bristol in the south west of the UK. I used to live in Bristol until April of this year. I was born in Bristol and my parents live on the outskirts. My parents didn't have much money before i was born until my dad got promoted and they had more money than they'd ever had before and enabled them to buy the house that they've had for the last 23 years.
I went to a primary school (5-11 years old) just round the corner from my parents house and i started at the local secondary school at 11. This didn't go to well and after 6 months my parents moved me to a fee paying private school after passing the entrance exam.
I've always had a wicked life and always did loads of extra curriculum activities such as dancing (competivite amateur disco freestyle), gym, playing piano, cornet and violin, stage crewing (mainly lighting desk). These have all contributed to the person i am now.
At 16/7 i started at sixth form doing A-Levels but in late 98 my dad saw an advert in the local paper for a computer firm taking on 16-21 year olds in a modern apprecticeship scheme. I passed the apitude test and interview and started in Feb 99 at 17. I never wanted to go to uni - my attitude was "i'll get loads of debt and a degree which will overqualify for some jobs and under-qualifiy me for others so i might as well gain experience and qualifications on the job which enable me to live debt free and earn decent money". I passed my driving test shortly afterwards and i've always driven and owned a car. My firm have so far financed my education, paying for me to complete two NVQ's and more recently paying me to complete an honours degree in computing. This degree in undertaken in my free time alongside of work. This doesn't bother me as previuosly i have gained an AS level in archaeology and also trained to be a keep fit teacher with the national keep fit association. I also work on the Avon area keep fit association committee doing their publicty and maintaining their website - again in my own time.
At 18 and a half i moved out of home - intially under pressure from my mother. I lived in my first house (a bedsit) in Bristol for a year and a half until moving to a small 10foot square house in a different area of Bristol. I stayed in the small house for 3 and a half years before me and my boyfriend moved to Bath. I miss Bristol but enjoy living in Bath.
Work has always been something i do because i can, but it doesn't really interest me hence the time a spend on here. But they pay me well - much more than any of my friends - and are quite a relaxed company. I enjoy the company of my work collegues and i stay because it's easy. I also met my current boyfriend at work. Although i've known him for 6 and a half years he only been my boyfriend for 2 and a half. I would like to venture into something that uses my skills a lot more - suggestions have been a PA - due to my communication and orgnaisational skills, but i would love to open a dance school and do well at that.
I try and live healthily but i am exactly what British papers report are young professionals. i spend what i earn, have no savings and would prefer to rent rather than buy to be able to have the lifestyle i want. I worry about whether i'd ever be able to afford a house - they're so expensive and around my area you need £180,000 to afford somewhere i'd call decent. Although this price is within me and my boyfriends limits we don't save
so when we'll get there i'll never know. I'm not married and have no children.
coffee is the drink of choice in the mornings but after 12 noon i switch to squash or water. I'm not a vege although i'm not overly keen on meat. It's quite difficult living with someone who loves meat with a passion and wants it all the time although he's beginning to like non-meat dishes. I love traditonal English food and also Mexican.
My fmaily consists of my parents and two foster daughters, sister with 3 children, my nan and uncle who all live in the village my parents live in. My brother lives in Cork in Ireland with his wife and my other nan lives in Bristol about a 20 minute drive from my parents house.
Mt parents house is tidy, neat but very chaotic when the whole family is there. If you come into my parents house you must be able to cope with children and i love them. They keep me acting a fool and never want to make me grow up!
I feel that all in all - i've had a wicked life and although i've faced strive and heartache - without these i wouldn't have the life or knowledge i have now. People say i'm pretty together and i would be inclined to agree. Working full-time in a ever-changing business for 6 and a half years and living away from my parents since i was 18 i've learnt to cope and often feel much more grown-up than others i meet my age.
OK this thread is really good to be able to find out about people - i have enjoyed reading others posts so i'll return the favour.
I'm 23 and live in Bath with my boyfriend, at the moment. It's nice historical town with some lovely baths
just south from Bristol in the south west of the UK. I used to live in Bristol until April of this year. I was born in Bristol and my parents live on the outskirts. My parents didn't have much money before i was born until my dad got promoted and they had more money than they'd ever had before and enabled them to buy the house that they've had for the last 23 years. I went to a primary school (5-11 years old) just round the corner from my parents house and i started at the local secondary school at 11. This didn't go to well and after 6 months my parents moved me to a fee paying private school after passing the entrance exam.
I've always had a wicked life and always did loads of extra curriculum activities such as dancing (competivite amateur disco freestyle), gym, playing piano, cornet and violin, stage crewing (mainly lighting desk). These have all contributed to the person i am now.
At 16/7 i started at sixth form doing A-Levels but in late 98 my dad saw an advert in the local paper for a computer firm taking on 16-21 year olds in a modern apprecticeship scheme. I passed the apitude test and interview and started in Feb 99 at 17. I never wanted to go to uni - my attitude was "i'll get loads of debt and a degree which will overqualify for some jobs and under-qualifiy me for others so i might as well gain experience and qualifications on the job which enable me to live debt free and earn decent money". I passed my driving test shortly afterwards and i've always driven and owned a car. My firm have so far financed my education, paying for me to complete two NVQ's and more recently paying me to complete an honours degree in computing. This degree in undertaken in my free time alongside of work. This doesn't bother me as previuosly i have gained an AS level in archaeology and also trained to be a keep fit teacher with the national keep fit association. I also work on the Avon area keep fit association committee doing their publicty and maintaining their website - again in my own time.
At 18 and a half i moved out of home - intially under pressure from my mother. I lived in my first house (a bedsit) in Bristol for a year and a half until moving to a small 10foot square house in a different area of Bristol. I stayed in the small house for 3 and a half years before me and my boyfriend moved to Bath. I miss Bristol but enjoy living in Bath.
Work has always been something i do because i can, but it doesn't really interest me hence the time a spend on here. But they pay me well - much more than any of my friends - and are quite a relaxed company. I enjoy the company of my work collegues and i stay because it's easy. I also met my current boyfriend at work. Although i've known him for 6 and a half years he only been my boyfriend for 2 and a half. I would like to venture into something that uses my skills a lot more - suggestions have been a PA - due to my communication and orgnaisational skills, but i would love to open a dance school and do well at that.
I try and live healthily but i am exactly what British papers report are young professionals. i spend what i earn, have no savings and would prefer to rent rather than buy to be able to have the lifestyle i want. I worry about whether i'd ever be able to afford a house - they're so expensive and around my area you need £180,000 to afford somewhere i'd call decent. Although this price is within me and my boyfriends limits we don't save
so when we'll get there i'll never know. I'm not married and have no children.coffee is the drink of choice in the mornings but after 12 noon i switch to squash or water. I'm not a vege although i'm not overly keen on meat. It's quite difficult living with someone who loves meat with a passion and wants it all the time although he's beginning to like non-meat dishes. I love traditonal English food and also Mexican.
My fmaily consists of my parents and two foster daughters, sister with 3 children, my nan and uncle who all live in the village my parents live in. My brother lives in Cork in Ireland with his wife and my other nan lives in Bristol about a 20 minute drive from my parents house.
Mt parents house is tidy, neat but very chaotic when the whole family is there. If you come into my parents house you must be able to cope with children and i love them. They keep me acting a fool and never want to make me grow up!
I feel that all in all - i've had a wicked life and although i've faced strive and heartache - without these i wouldn't have the life or knowledge i have now. People say i'm pretty together and i would be inclined to agree. Working full-time in a ever-changing business for 6 and a half years and living away from my parents since i was 18 i've learnt to cope and often feel much more grown-up
than others i meet my age. Gayle.....!
Thinking...
179 posts
Location: Oxford
179 posts
Location: Oxford
Posted:
Hmm, yes this is an interesting thread....funny how we don't really find out much about people's life-styles and histories on here.
My life has been a curious mixture of unconventional hippy madness, and conventional middle-class. I was born and brought up on a commune, Lower Shaw Farm, in wiltshire. We only lived like that till I was 8, but it still feels like a huge part of my childhood. Me, my older sister, and my twin brother loved living there, with two other families and 2 individuals sharing our home, which meant we always had children to play with, and adults around to look out for us. We all lived simply on the community. As most of the adults didn't have jobs outside the community (instead receiving small amounts of money from the events run collectively) no one had much money to spend on expensive clothes, food, or technology. But we had amazing experiences which made up for it...we ran courses/events in everything from yoga and massage, to permaculture, to juggling and circus skills, which everyone on the community was always involved in.
Unfortunately, when I was about 7 things started getting really tricky on the commune. There was a lot of nastiness going on, particularly towards my parents, and we were forced to leave. It has taught me SO much about group dynamics and human nature, and as a family we often discuss what happened and why.
So we moved to a house fairly nearby, and lived there for two years. According to my parents, they were quite unhappy years. We were really hard up, my mum worked as a teacher and my dad was doing bits and peices including literature development work in swindon, journalism, and organising the swindon festival of literature (which although really succesful, didn't pay him much at all!). We ate lots of fish fingers and pasta, and we all missed Lower Shaw Farm desperately.
While we were gone, the rest of the community crumbled away, until only one woman and her two children were left. When we found out that they too were leaving, we contacted the council (who own the property) to inform them that we wanted to move back in! And moving back was one of the happiest days of my life. We still live there now, and we still run events (https://www.lowershawfarm.co.uk/) and my dad still does the literature festival (https://www.swindonfestivalofliterature.co.uk/) and all his other bits and pieces. And although it's not a community any more, it feels like it is because the house is nearly always full of people. We often have international volunteers staying with us (through the WWOOF scheme), which has been really amazing because I've met so many different interesting people, and now have friends all around the world.
Apart from a big trip to Peru when I was 18 months old, our holidays consisted mainly of going to festivals, they've always been an integral part of my summer! This year was my first year without one, because I went to India instead, which was a truly amazing and eye-opening experience.
Despite my intense dislike of the education system, I managed to get through it with surprisingly good grades. My brother hated it even more than me though, and spent a number of years home educating himself. He dropped out of college (after AS levels, age 17) and is now a professional juggler (teacher and performer). My sister also managed to survive the system and is now working with Fairylove (https://www.fairylove.com/) making and selling fairywings, and about to move into a mansion in Hereford! And I am about to go to Oxford university to study politics, philosophy, and economics; which I'm so scared and excited about, it feels like a huge turning point in my life.
We are all thankful for the different directions our lives have taken. My parents are amazing, immensely appreciative and respectful of us all and our idiosyncrasies. I am so thakful to them for providing me with such a rich (not materially!), varied and intersesting lifestyle.
So, that's how I've lived so far.
Hmm, yes this is an interesting thread....funny how we don't really find out much about people's life-styles and histories on here.
My life has been a curious mixture of unconventional hippy madness, and conventional middle-class. I was born and brought up on a commune, Lower Shaw Farm, in wiltshire. We only lived like that till I was 8, but it still feels like a huge part of my childhood. Me, my older sister, and my twin brother loved living there, with two other families and 2 individuals sharing our home, which meant we always had children to play with, and adults around to look out for us. We all lived simply on the community. As most of the adults didn't have jobs outside the community (instead receiving small amounts of money from the events run collectively) no one had much money to spend on expensive clothes, food, or technology. But we had amazing experiences which made up for it...we ran courses/events in everything from yoga and massage, to permaculture, to juggling and circus skills, which everyone on the community was always involved in.
Unfortunately, when I was about 7 things started getting really tricky on the commune. There was a lot of nastiness going on, particularly towards my parents, and we were forced to leave. It has taught me SO much about group dynamics and human nature, and as a family we often discuss what happened and why.
So we moved to a house fairly nearby, and lived there for two years. According to my parents, they were quite unhappy years. We were really hard up, my mum worked as a teacher and my dad was doing bits and peices including literature development work in swindon, journalism, and organising the swindon festival of literature (which although really succesful, didn't pay him much at all!). We ate lots of fish fingers and pasta, and we all missed Lower Shaw Farm desperately.
While we were gone, the rest of the community crumbled away, until only one woman and her two children were left. When we found out that they too were leaving, we contacted the council (who own the property) to inform them that we wanted to move back in! And moving back was one of the happiest days of my life. We still live there now, and we still run events (https://www.lowershawfarm.co.uk/) and my dad still does the literature festival (https://www.swindonfestivalofliterature.co.uk/) and all his other bits and pieces. And although it's not a community any more, it feels like it is because the house is nearly always full of people. We often have international volunteers staying with us (through the WWOOF scheme), which has been really amazing because I've met so many different interesting people, and now have friends all around the world.
Apart from a big trip to Peru when I was 18 months old, our holidays consisted mainly of going to festivals, they've always been an integral part of my summer! This year was my first year without one, because I went to India instead, which was a truly amazing and eye-opening experience.
Despite my intense dislike of the education system, I managed to get through it with surprisingly good grades. My brother hated it even more than me though, and spent a number of years home educating himself. He dropped out of college (after AS levels, age 17) and is now a professional juggler (teacher and performer). My sister also managed to survive the system and is now working with Fairylove (https://www.fairylove.com/) making and selling fairywings, and about to move into a mansion in Hereford! And I am about to go to Oxford university to study politics, philosophy, and economics; which I'm so scared and excited about, it feels like a huge turning point in my life.
We are all thankful for the different directions our lives have taken. My parents are amazing, immensely appreciative and respectful of us all and our idiosyncrasies. I am so thakful to them for providing me with such a rich (not materially!), varied and intersesting lifestyle.
So, that's how I've lived so far.
Practice as if your hair was on fire...
member
30 posts
Location: the Netherlands
30 posts
Location: the Netherlands
Posted:
Not if you live still at home with your father working, don't know what he does but he has been doing it for year, and a mother working as well, when my sister and I were old enough to stay home alone my mom started working as a teacher (at preschool I think its called in english) again.
We have a 'dutch' meal (see Nepthys post for a very good description of it) almost every day, besides on tuesdays when we have fries and 'kroketten' (don't know the english word). Sometimes we eat something with rice but thats all the 'foreign' I get at home. My mom and sister eat pasta though, but when they do I always (pretty dutch) eat potatoes, meat (no fish, dad's allergic) and sprouts (is that the right translation of spruitjes? if anybody knows). Its a bit weird, I don't like many type of foods but I do like sprouts, which everybody seems to hate.
During day I always it (brown) bread. I useds to put peanut butter on it almost every time but this has been put aside for choclatspreadthingy not so long ago. I'm not a real fruit eater, unless my mom puts it (in pieces) under my nose. When I'm at home I always drink tea with milk (stopped with the sugar but still don't like 'just'tea) with it. When I'm at the university I always drink water. Don't drink much coffee, always with milk and sugar, only in weekends when I drink coffee with my parents and sometimes not even then. Almost every night I drink a mug of hot choclat and sometimes some warm milk before I go to sleep. Something else about my drinking habits which most people seem to find weird: I don't like Cola at all, blech.
thought I read a question about television earlier in this topic: At the moment I watch programs like JAG, stargate, star trek, SCI and desperate housewifes and sometimes a movie. But I wouldn't really mind if the tv is kicked out of the house. It's to addicting. When I'm bored I sometimes can't help trying to find something on while there is nothing I like ending up watching tellsell (stupid stupid, that tellsell) When I go down for a drink and someone is watching I can hardly stop myself from watching to even when I have other things to do. Thats why I'm not going to buy a television when I'm finally moving out (hopefully next year, not that I don't like it at home but just want to live on my own and still come back in the weekedns probably:D) There are lots of other (usefull) stuff I can do instead of watching tv.
Written by: Nephtys
The dutch government is very nice to students: higher education is relatively cheap, like Saya said you get free public transport, and a monthly allowance. It doesn't cover the bills, but if you have a part-time job for 1 or 2 days a week you're fine. There's no real hardship, and every student has to go through the occasional having a chunk of month left over at the end of your money, and you find yourself living on ketchup sandwiches and ketchup pasta for a week
Not if you live still at home
with your father working, don't know what he does but he has been doing it for year, and a mother working as well, when my sister and I were old enough to stay home alone my mom started working as a teacher (at preschool I think its called in english) again. We have a 'dutch' meal (see Nepthys post for a very good description of it) almost every day, besides on tuesdays when we have fries and 'kroketten' (don't know the english word). Sometimes we eat something with rice but thats all the 'foreign' I get at home. My mom and sister eat pasta though, but when they do I always (pretty dutch) eat potatoes, meat (no fish, dad's allergic) and sprouts (is that the right translation of spruitjes? if anybody knows). Its a bit weird, I don't like many type of foods but I do like sprouts, which everybody seems to hate.
During day I always it (brown) bread. I useds to put peanut butter on it almost every time but this has been put aside for choclatspreadthingy not so long ago. I'm not a real fruit eater, unless my mom puts it (in pieces) under my nose. When I'm at home I always drink tea with milk (stopped with the sugar but still don't like 'just'tea) with it. When I'm at the university I always drink water. Don't drink much coffee, always with milk and sugar, only in weekends when I drink coffee with my parents and sometimes not even then. Almost every night I drink a mug of hot choclat and sometimes some warm milk before I go to sleep. Something else about my drinking habits which most people seem to find weird: I don't like Cola at all, blech.
thought I read a question about television earlier in this topic: At the moment I watch programs like JAG, stargate, star trek, SCI and desperate housewifes and sometimes a movie. But I wouldn't really mind if the tv is kicked out of the house. It's to addicting. When I'm bored I sometimes can't help trying to find something on while there is nothing I like ending up watching tellsell (stupid stupid, that tellsell) When I go down for a drink and someone is watching I can hardly stop myself from watching to even when I have other things to do. Thats why I'm not going to buy a television when I'm finally moving out (hopefully next year, not that I don't like it at home but just want to live on my own and still come back in the weekedns probably:D) There are lots of other (usefull) stuff I can do instead of watching tv.
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land
Posted:
Hello
I am 20. I save a lot, eat a lot (and love to cook), travel when I can, buy very little and don't drive. I try to be honest and open and kind wherever and whenever I can in the hope that it'll catch on.
My parents are divorced but I can (and do) live with whoever I want to. My parents (3 of them) get on remarkably well, despite their differences, for which I am undeniably lucky and forever greatful. My two sisters, brother, step-sister and step-brother grew up on a dairy farm/in a tiny village (depending on mother's or father's house). We're now all at uni or living on our own.
Most of my money goes on rent.
The rest is split between food (very little as I shop in markets and cook with my housemates), travel (I walk and BMX most places, using buses and trains when I visit people/go away), savings (when I'm able) and toys (cos I rarely buy anything else!).
We were all encouraged to go to university, although only 3 have. I think all our parents are proud of the fact we've worked hard for what we want, whether it's what they expected or not! We are (in age order) a farmer, a silversmith & skatboarder, a linguist & snowboarder, a nurse, a scientist & spinner, and a childcare student. Nice range. I'm not vegetarian, though I don't eat mass-produced meat - the village butcher is stocked by village farms, and I tend to be veggie in term time. (Two of my sisters are veggie, but none of my parents). I have strong opinions but am always open to them growing, changing and being debated
We all live differently. We have all been encouraged to think for ourselves, develop our own morals and live by them, and be aware of the consequences. I think I do ok, but there's always so much room for improvement. My good habits are rubbing off onto my sisters (who now recycle etc.....) but the boys tend to call me a hippy and not think twice. I hope they will one day cos the way they live now isn't sustainable, economically or environmentally.
Having grown up in the countryside with horses, dogs, bikes, boats etc.... much of our outlook is based on physical work and hobbies, even though we all now live in cities. I like it.
I would like to live abroad and learn another language (my ignorance constantly embarasses me) but I'm not good in the heat. - I'm aware most people don't get these choices.
I'm often blown away by the beauty of things. Simple, silly things. I am very emotional, and open with the expression of it (which often takes some getting used to as I rant when I'm cross and laugh out loud when I'm happy. Most people seem more restrained!) Though constant release of my feelings keeps the inside pretty level most of the time so I'm not going to change in a hurry
Hello
I am 20. I save a lot, eat a lot (and love to cook), travel when I can, buy very little and don't drive. I try to be honest and open and kind wherever and whenever I can in the hope that it'll catch on.
My parents are divorced but I can (and do) live with whoever I want to. My parents (3 of them) get on remarkably well, despite their differences, for which I am undeniably lucky and forever greatful. My two sisters, brother, step-sister and step-brother grew up on a dairy farm/in a tiny village (depending on mother's or father's house). We're now all at uni or living on our own.
Most of my money goes on rent.
The rest is split between food (very little as I shop in markets and cook with my housemates), travel (I walk and BMX most places, using buses and trains when I visit people/go away), savings (when I'm able) and toys (cos I rarely buy anything else!).
We were all encouraged to go to university, although only 3 have. I think all our parents are proud of the fact we've worked hard for what we want, whether it's what they expected or not! We are (in age order) a farmer, a silversmith & skatboarder, a linguist & snowboarder, a nurse, a scientist & spinner, and a childcare student. Nice range
. I'm not vegetarian, though I don't eat mass-produced meat - the village butcher is stocked by village farms, and I tend to be veggie in term time. (Two of my sisters are veggie, but none of my parents). I have strong opinions but am always open to them growing, changing and being debated We all live differently. We have all been encouraged to think for ourselves, develop our own morals and live by them, and be aware of the consequences. I think I do ok, but there's always so much room for improvement. My good habits are rubbing off onto my sisters (who now recycle etc.....) but the boys tend to call me a hippy and not think twice. I hope they will one day cos the way they live now isn't sustainable, economically or environmentally.
Having grown up in the countryside with horses, dogs, bikes, boats etc.... much of our outlook is based on physical work and hobbies, even though we all now live in cities. I like it.
I would like to live abroad and learn another language (my ignorance constantly embarasses me) but I'm not good in the heat. - I'm aware most people don't get these choices.
I'm often blown away by the beauty of things. Simple, silly things. I am very emotional, and open with the expression of it (which often takes some getting used to as I rant when I'm cross and laugh out loud when I'm happy. Most people seem more restrained!) Though constant release of my feelings keeps the inside pretty level most of the time so I'm not going to change in a hurry
Geologists do it in the dirt................ 
member
145 posts
Location: Little Rock, AR
145 posts
Location: Little Rock, AR
Posted:
ohho - I walked away from this thread for two seconds and now there's so much I can't respond to it all!
Well, I've read everything, this is very interesting - we could turn it into a book: The memoirs of the HoP. hehe
I have learned that I am a Spätzlefresser.
Does anyone from The Netherlands know someone who lived in The Eindhoven by the name of Marcel Swinkles? He would have been around the age of 16 in 1996. - He was an old internet friend of mine who I lost track of when we both moved.
My mother lived in Germany as a child (stationed at a US place of something or other) which is why I have an interest in German this and that - food and the language, I tried to learn it in highschool but langauges aren't my forte.
My other sister has been to France (any Frenchmen out there?) and China for business related this and that. I found out the other day that my father's grandfather immigrated from Scottland, though I don't know anything of his families history over there. So I guess I'm a wee bit Scottish Very cool.
Ok, I'm curious - I was chatting with a friend who's moving here from England - we were talking about plants and such. What types of flowers and trees do people grow, there? Like in your communal garden or back yard?
Around here people love to grow banana trees and tomatos. I, though, am planning on growing pomegranates and saffron (a fall-blooming flower that produces a spice) Actually, I think I'll turn a good bit of my soon-to-be yard into an herb garden. I make a wonderful Focaccia bread and a Challah Braid.
Yes - sprouts is the right word
ohho - I walked away from this thread for two seconds and now there's so much I can't respond to it all!
Well, I've read everything, this is very interesting - we could turn it into a book: The memoirs of the HoP. hehe
I have learned that I am a Spätzlefresser.
Does anyone from The Netherlands know someone who lived in The Eindhoven by the name of Marcel Swinkles? He would have been around the age of 16 in 1996. - He was an old internet friend of mine who I lost track of when we both moved.
My mother lived in Germany as a child (stationed at a US place of something or other) which is why I have an interest in German this and that - food and the language, I tried to learn it in highschool but langauges aren't my forte.
My other sister has been to France (any Frenchmen out there?) and China for business related this and that. I found out the other day that my father's grandfather immigrated from Scottland, though I don't know anything of his families history over there. So I guess I'm a wee bit Scottish
Very cool.Ok, I'm curious - I was chatting with a friend who's moving here from England - we were talking about plants and such. What types of flowers and trees do people grow, there? Like in your communal garden or back yard?
Around here people love to grow banana trees and tomatos. I, though, am planning on growing pomegranates and saffron (a fall-blooming flower that produces a spice) Actually, I think I'll turn a good bit of my soon-to-be yard into an herb garden. I make a wonderful Focaccia bread and a Challah Braid.
Yes - sprouts is the right word
"I'm your Huckleberry."
The muse spake her thought and then there was silence. Thy spiked tongue had melted, only a bitter heart remained.
BRONZE Member
had her carpal tunnel surgery already thanks v much
4,145 posts
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)
had her carpal tunnel surgery already thanks v much
4,145 posts
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)
Posted:
If she learned how to do Spätzle, then it must've been Stuttgart area... maybe Mannheim, Heidelberg or Pattonville! If you need any recipes for German food just pm me
If she learned how to do Spätzle, then it must've been Stuttgart area... maybe Mannheim, Heidelberg or Pattonville! If you need any recipes for German food just pm me
"vices are like genitals - most are ugly to behold, and yet we find that our own are dear to us."
(G.W. Dahlquist)
Owner of Dragosani's left half
member
30 posts
Location: the Netherlands
30 posts
Location: the Netherlands
Posted:
guess my english is better then I thought:D
I don't know any Marcel so I can't help you with finding him, sorry. By the way, I think it's just Eindhoven, without the 'the'. (not thats real important)
I don't know exactly what plants we have in our garden, we have a lot of them, I let my mom think about it. So I'll just tell you what I know about it. We have a small appletree which still has lots of yummie apples at the moment. Before we took some of all branches were bending to the ground because of the weight:D We also have a grapeplant, and for the first time since we have it it has got more then five grapes so its doing better. We can't have real exotic plants, like banana trees because of the climate over here. But we do have some tomato plants and my mom grows some garlic and a few other herbs as well. There are some climbing plants at the wall and a beautiful rose at the fence. There are also a lot of flowers which I don't know the English names from, mostly not even the Dutch so. We also have a small pond with a water lely(?) in it together with some other plants. So far our garden:)
Succes with your soon-to-be yard by the way:D
guess my english is better then I thought:D
I don't know any Marcel so I can't help you with finding him, sorry. By the way, I think it's just Eindhoven, without the 'the'. (not thats real important)
I don't know exactly what plants we have in our garden, we have a lot of them, I let my mom think about it. So I'll just tell you what I know about it. We have a small appletree which still has lots of yummie apples at the moment. Before we took some of all branches were bending to the ground because of the weight:D We also have a grapeplant, and for the first time since we have it it has got more then five grapes so its doing better. We can't have real exotic plants, like banana trees because of the climate over here. But we do have some tomato plants and my mom grows some garlic and a few other herbs as well. There are some climbing plants at the wall and a beautiful rose at the fence. There are also a lot of flowers which I don't know the English names from, mostly not even the Dutch so. We also have a small pond with a water lely(?) in it together with some other plants. So far our garden:)
Succes with your soon-to-be yard by the way:D
Sponge
883 posts
Location: Stevenage
883 posts
Location: Stevenage
Posted:
Hi Julie,
I work in a trading office at the moment I use these rough exchange rates
£ - $ 1.8
£ - € 1.5 or 1.6
$ - € 1.4 or 1.3
Hope that makes sense
I also, spend a lot of money on fuel but at the moment it's a luxury because I love to drive and I still live with my parents so not many bills to pay!
I plan on buying a new car before I move out but they're both at the top of my list.
At the moment i have a very cushy life, good job, great boyfriend, friends and family (not in that order) and absolutely amazing weekend life! Biggest amount of money I spend: entertainment, petrol, car parts, cigarettes and food. I have no idea where the rest of my money goes, except for the weekend.
Hi Julie,
I work in a trading office at the moment I use these rough exchange rates
£ - $ 1.8
£ - € 1.5 or 1.6
$ - € 1.4 or 1.3
Hope that makes sense
I also, spend a lot of money on fuel but at the moment it's a luxury because I love to drive and I still live with my parents so not many bills to pay!
I plan on buying a new car before I move out but they're both at the top of my list.
At the moment i have a very cushy life, good job, great boyfriend, friends and family (not in that order) and absolutely amazing weekend life! Biggest amount of money I spend: entertainment, petrol, car parts, cigarettes and food. I have no idea where the rest of my money goes, except for the weekend.
Monkeys monkeys and bananas
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land
Posted:
We currently have a greenhouse full of peppers (capsicum and chilli) and tomatoes and passionfruit.
Also grow squashes (marrow, courgettes/zucchini, pumpkin etc..) and potatoes, green beans, and a few other things when time and season allow. Oooo and really nice spinach and rocket and lettuce. I want to grow shallotts.
Have a small orchard (which is currently giving me the most amazingly sweet, crispy pink apples) as well as cooking apples, and some other more sour green ones which we tend to leave for the animals when they fall, and there are pear, plum and cherry trees. (But the pears never ripen!) Used to have raspberries and the like but birds eat them all.....and I thinkn there's some rhubarb hiding somewhere, with a few wild strawberries.
Garden generally = lotsa ferns, bamboo(?!), big big trees - mixed deciduous and evergreen (yew, oak, ash, chestnut, sycamore(sp?)....), spring-flowering shrubs and acid/damp-loving bushy things like hydrangea, fuscia, rhododenderon, azalia, chamelia etc..... And a lot of roses (but the deer eat all the buds).
Herb garden = rosemary, thyme, mint, lavender, bay, sage...... I think that's it at the moment.
mmmmmmmmmm now I'm all hungry!
We currently have a greenhouse full of peppers (capsicum and chilli) and tomatoes and passionfruit.
Also grow squashes (marrow, courgettes/zucchini, pumpkin etc..) and potatoes, green beans, and a few other things when time and season allow. Oooo and really nice spinach and rocket and lettuce. I want to grow shallotts.
Have a small orchard (which is currently giving me the most amazingly sweet, crispy pink apples) as well as cooking apples, and some other more sour green ones which we tend to leave for the animals when they fall, and there are pear, plum and cherry trees. (But the pears never ripen!) Used to have raspberries and the like but birds eat them all.....and I thinkn there's some rhubarb hiding somewhere, with a few wild strawberries.
Garden generally = lotsa ferns, bamboo(?!), big big trees - mixed deciduous and evergreen (yew, oak, ash, chestnut, sycamore(sp?)....), spring-flowering shrubs and acid/damp-loving bushy things like hydrangea, fuscia, rhododenderon, azalia, chamelia etc..... And a lot of roses (but the deer eat all the buds).
Herb garden = rosemary, thyme, mint, lavender, bay, sage...... I think that's it at the moment.
mmmmmmmmmm now I'm all hungry!
Geologists do it in the dirt................
SILVER Member
....of doom!
585 posts
Location: Hastings, UK
....of doom!
585 posts
Location: Hastings, UK
Posted:
we have eucalyptus, silver birch and larch trees in our garden, plus a vegetable plot (marrows, beans, onions, rhubarb, whatever mum chooses to plant). i dont know what all the flowers are. we leave the front garden to grow all summer because it has some beautiful wild grass and flowers in it, which attract a lot of butterflies and other insects.
we have eucalyptus, silver birch and larch trees in our garden, plus a vegetable plot (marrows, beans, onions, rhubarb, whatever mum chooses to plant). i dont know what all the flowers are. we leave the front garden to grow all summer because it has some beautiful wild grass and flowers in it, which attract a lot of butterflies and other insects.
BRONZE Member
member
75 posts
Location: In UK for now, but born an lived in ZIMBABWE and S...
member
75 posts
Location: In UK for now, but born an lived in ZIMBABWE and S...
Posted:
My life.. he he this should bring back a few good times!
good place to start is family then.. I'm the youngest of 3, older brother, Ryan(tadpole on HOP) whos 27 and does...well as little as possible and is the most relaxed positive person ever, he's pulled me though some tough ones! We got a sister between us 24, who i used to live with in UK. Shes an office manager and is really my god-send.
then mommy and daddy!! Mom dosen't work, she more or less ''sorts stuff out''. Dad is the owner of a company in Zimbabwe which distributes office equipment..faxes etc.. and runs a hunting/safari camp(We alla against the hunting, bt it's there to protect the animals-I'm a vegi, have been since i was 8)
Grew up between South Africa, Jo'burg and Zimbabwe,harare. Good schhols, usual good happy little kids! Then i turned 15...Mom and Dad i'm so sorry!!!When i was 12 i met my best best friend ever, Stacey who has really honestly saved my life from drugs and from myself and one stage. She gave birth to my god daughter in March this year who hs now become my little attachment!! One of my other close friends commited suiside when i was 14,that really hit home and woke me up a bit. Knowng u can lose some one so quickly, makes u live ur life 10 seconds at a time. Started dating a guy,3 years later,1 engagement,lots of lies, loads of drugs and me having to move out because my parents didn't agree with inter-racial relationships, so i packed my bags him and moved in together. (well i moved in with a friend,sharing a place.. my b/f just never left,funny that he never paid either,for 2years!!) Any way after all that i woke up and left the dude. I still thank him though because he did teach me alot. what not to do. After my GCSE's i moved to Cape Town to start at a college there in Horse Riding,i've been riding since i was 6 and it's my passion for life.It takes me over.Then moved back to Zimbabwe for a year teaching riding and riding my self. In Feb 2005 i moved to UK, i just felt like a change really and got a bit bored in Zim so was in UK for 7months,working in sales.(they call it sales i call it call centre. I'm now in Zim for a few months,due to my uncle(my god father aswell) passing away 1month ago.(P.S- I miss you Big guy!) and then off to Cape Town for a second year of studying. I'm thinking after that maybe to go to Ausi for a year or two.
Life in Zimbabwe... what can i say. THE MEDIA BLOWS IT OUT OF PROPORTION.
Luckily for our family we don't have a worry,thanks to Dad. My parents are wealthy but we were bought up, they ae the ones wealthyit's their money, not ours so if we wanted something we had to do something for it. I.E- Wanted a horse had to get good grades at school(that never happened!!!!) Our family is ok, and Dad makes a plan and is the most resourseful(sp>!)man i know. Put it this way in Zim, there is never actually a shortage of anything, there is fuel, there is food. There is only a shortage of money. (However thats not only in Zim) The cost now.. well smokes are $40,000. Sounds ridiculous???? We pay $90,000. to £1.00 so no not really we still paying 45p for a bow of smokes..not too shabby. The problem comes in when the minimum wage is $800thousand a month(this is generally spread over a family of 5-6people.) So just over a pound each a month for every thing, rent bills food...
Reality is is that u can't survive on that hence why the country is 'dying' But then u got to be positive,like i'm always told by my dad, the worse it is the closer it is to getting better.
Me personaly though, i love life and the challenges it gives although i hate them at the time. I'm loud always smiling and laugh really loudly.I love travelling and exploring new places different cultures and people. My dream... to manage the finest most productive riding establishment Zimbabwe has ever seen.
My life.. he he this should bring back a few good times!
good place to start is family then.. I'm the youngest of 3, older brother, Ryan(tadpole on HOP) whos 27 and does...well as little as possible and is the most relaxed positive person ever, he's pulled me though some tough ones! We got a sister between us 24, who i used to live with in UK. Shes an office manager and is really my god-send.
then mommy and daddy!! Mom dosen't work, she more or less ''sorts stuff out''. Dad is the owner of a company in Zimbabwe which distributes office equipment..faxes etc.. and runs a hunting/safari camp(We alla against the hunting, bt it's there to protect the animals-I'm a vegi, have been since i was 8)
Grew up between South Africa, Jo'burg and Zimbabwe,harare. Good schhols, usual good happy little kids! Then i turned 15...Mom and Dad i'm so sorry!!!When i was 12 i met my best best friend ever, Stacey who has really honestly saved my life from drugs and from myself and one stage. She gave birth to my god daughter in March this year who hs now become my little attachment!! One of my other close friends commited suiside when i was 14,that really hit home and woke me up a bit. Knowng u can lose some one so quickly, makes u live ur life 10 seconds at a time. Started dating a guy,3 years later,1 engagement,lots of lies, loads of drugs and me having to move out because my parents didn't agree with inter-racial relationships, so i packed my bags him and moved in together. (well i moved in with a friend,sharing a place.. my b/f just never left,funny that he never paid either,for 2years!!) Any way after all that i woke up and left the dude. I still thank him though because he did teach me alot. what not to do. After my GCSE's i moved to Cape Town to start at a college there in Horse Riding,i've been riding since i was 6 and it's my passion for life.It takes me over.Then moved back to Zimbabwe for a year teaching riding and riding my self. In Feb 2005 i moved to UK, i just felt like a change really and got a bit bored in Zim so was in UK for 7months,working in sales.(they call it sales i call it call centre. I'm now in Zim for a few months,due to my uncle(my god father aswell) passing away 1month ago.(P.S- I miss you Big guy!) and then off to Cape Town for a second year of studying. I'm thinking after that maybe to go to Ausi for a year or two.
Life in Zimbabwe... what can i say. THE MEDIA BLOWS IT OUT OF PROPORTION.
Luckily for our family we don't have a worry,thanks to Dad. My parents are wealthy but we were bought up, they ae the ones wealthyit's their money, not ours so if we wanted something we had to do something for it. I.E- Wanted a horse had to get good grades at school(that never happened!!!!) Our family is ok, and Dad makes a plan and is the most resourseful(sp>!)man i know. Put it this way in Zim, there is never actually a shortage of anything, there is fuel, there is food. There is only a shortage of money. (However thats not only in Zim) The cost now.. well smokes are $40,000. Sounds ridiculous???? We pay $90,000. to £1.00 so no not really we still paying 45p for a bow of smokes..not too shabby. The problem comes in when the minimum wage is $800thousand a month(this is generally spread over a family of 5-6people.) So just over a pound each a month for every thing, rent bills food...
Reality is is that u can't survive on that hence why the country is 'dying' But then u got to be positive,like i'm always told by my dad, the worse it is the closer it is to getting better.
Me personaly though, i love life and the challenges it gives although i hate them at the time. I'm loud always smiling and laugh really loudly.I love travelling and exploring new places different cultures and people. My dream... to manage the finest most productive riding establishment Zimbabwe has ever seen.
GOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posted:
I was raised in an affluent household in an affluent suburb of Detroit, MI. My dad was the president of a steel company. He died when I was 25 at age 81. My mom was 43 and my father was 56 when I was born. My mother was a "stay-at-home" mom (which meant she didn't really raise me, but played tennis and ran errands and otherwise went about her socialite life and raised me when it suited her). I was really raised by our housekeeper/nanny, Tina, who is from Spain and who is still very much a part of our family and who is emotional closer to me than my mother ever will be.
In spite of it, I grew up with no idea that we were wealthy. My parents worked very hard to teach me the value of a dollar and to teach me that I would have to work for a living and that money didn't grow on trees. In spite of the fact that they could have afforded it, I had to work for and buy my own car in high school. But they were *very* generous with my education. Education was the highest value in my family after food, shelter, and medical care. I was not expected to work in college; I was expected to focus on my studies and to finish my education. My parents paid for it all. The understanding was that they would be generous with me as long as I was getting an education, but that as soon as that was completed (and with reasonable dispatch...no taking long periods of time off "to find myself") I was to be gainfully employed.
I was educated at Stanford where I got both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in biological sciences. I then went to the University of Michigan for my M.D. I completed that just this last June and I'm now a first year resident in Pediatrics at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. In spite of the absurd hours I work (up to 80 hours a week!) and the low salary (50K, which works out to about $12 an hour for a working doctor..and in New York City!) I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I get to work with children every day and nothing could make me happier.
Ate age 28 I'm single, gay, and unfortunately don't have time to cook and clean for myself. I do live on a budget that limits my ability to go out and enjoy myself. I have my laundry done for me at the laundromat down the street (which costs me $2-3 more per week than doing it myself) because I don't have time to do it myself. I eat most of my meals out or at the hospital (we're given an allowance for meals). I rarely date or go out.
My health is important to me as a physician because I feel it's important to set an example for my patients. I exercise intensely every day that I'm not on call. I eat carefully. I watch my weight. I go to the doctor for regular check-ups.
I'm not religious. My values are to do as little harm as possible to myself and to others. My main values are health and education, since with those two you can go a long way.
I'll never have to worry about money, most likely, but money is only one of many, *many* things that people have to worry about. And, as the song says, "the mo' money we come across, the mo' problems we see!" Believe me, wealth comes with it's fair share of issues.
Overall, I'm happy. I love my work, I love my patients, I love my city, and I know that my future is bright.
I was raised in an affluent household in an affluent suburb of Detroit, MI. My dad was the president of a steel company. He died when I was 25 at age 81. My mom was 43 and my father was 56 when I was born. My mother was a "stay-at-home" mom (which meant she didn't really raise me, but played tennis and ran errands and otherwise went about her socialite life and raised me when it suited her). I was really raised by our housekeeper/nanny, Tina, who is from Spain and who is still very much a part of our family and who is emotional closer to me than my mother ever will be.
In spite of it, I grew up with no idea that we were wealthy. My parents worked very hard to teach me the value of a dollar and to teach me that I would have to work for a living and that money didn't grow on trees. In spite of the fact that they could have afforded it, I had to work for and buy my own car in high school. But they were *very* generous with my education. Education was the highest value in my family after food, shelter, and medical care. I was not expected to work in college; I was expected to focus on my studies and to finish my education. My parents paid for it all. The understanding was that they would be generous with me as long as I was getting an education, but that as soon as that was completed (and with reasonable dispatch...no taking long periods of time off "to find myself") I was to be gainfully employed.
I was educated at Stanford where I got both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in biological sciences. I then went to the University of Michigan for my M.D. I completed that just this last June and I'm now a first year resident in Pediatrics at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. In spite of the absurd hours I work (up to 80 hours a week!) and the low salary (50K, which works out to about $12 an hour for a working doctor..and in New York City!) I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I get to work with children every day and nothing could make me happier.
Ate age 28 I'm single, gay, and unfortunately don't have time to cook and clean for myself. I do live on a budget that limits my ability to go out and enjoy myself. I have my laundry done for me at the laundromat down the street (which costs me $2-3 more per week than doing it myself) because I don't have time to do it myself. I eat most of my meals out or at the hospital (we're given an allowance for meals). I rarely date or go out.
My health is important to me as a physician because I feel it's important to set an example for my patients. I exercise intensely every day that I'm not on call. I eat carefully. I watch my weight. I go to the doctor for regular check-ups.
I'm not religious. My values are to do as little harm as possible to myself and to others. My main values are health and education, since with those two you can go a long way.
I'll never have to worry about money, most likely, but money is only one of many, *many* things that people have to worry about. And, as the song says, "the mo' money we come across, the mo' problems we see!" Believe me, wealth comes with it's fair share of issues.
Overall, I'm happy. I love my work, I love my patients, I love my city, and I know that my future is bright.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
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