February 2, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, Gannan said: For me yeah. My guess is that you probably make somewhere around 3-4 times what I make (maybe more). I'm happy where I am. We've talked about this before. I could earn more money if I wanted to but made a conscious choice to take a job with lower salary and less responsibility for health reasons and to spend more time with my kids. So trying to cut back on certain costs comes with that. Whole Foods is always going to be more expensive. There are a lot of ways to save money on groceries from sales and coupons, to buying different items at different stores, buying in bulk or stocking up when items are on sale, etc.
February 2, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, we_gotta_believe said: I love to cook. I live to cook. I'd still cook even if I made 10x as much money. On weekends, I look forward to trying new recipes because I know I have more time to devote to it. It's a hobby I just enjoy and there's a sense of achievement in the improvement over time. One of the major bummers for me of the past year is missing out on hosting friends and neighbors for dinner parties and having them try different things I've gotten better at. Oddly enough, it was driving to and from work that I hated. Sitting in traffic every day was such a ridiculous waste of time. Avoiding that might be the only good thing to have come out of all this. Same. Cooking for my family is something I really enjoy. I do all the cooking in my house (wife does the cleaning)
February 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, NOTW said: Whole Foods is always going to be more expensive. There are a lot of ways to save money on groceries from sales and coupons, to buying different items at different stores, buying in bulk or stocking up when items are on sale, etc. Yeah we did costco in NC and now BJs back up here. Aldi has been a good option but I havent been thrilled with some of their meat.
February 2, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, EaglesRocker97 said: There certainly is ROI. I just covered it: People get better jobs and new products open up new markets, which means people have more money, which means people save more and...buy more. Improved infrastructure also helps streamline the transportation of goods. Obviously, these projects can go south if not managed properly, but it can be managed properly. They're doing it all over Asia. Again, I just addressed the benefits. In addition to creating jobs, as well as increasing GDP and personal wealth, the towns and cities along the routes expand economically. Look at the early history of American railroads and highways. They spurred development across the nation. Are we not developed as a nation at this point? stop comparing to completely irrelevant points far away in the nations life cycle people are not the asset nor are their wages You guys keep trying to talk about benefit without the cost side of the equation
February 2, 20214 yr For beef, I haven't found anyone that can beat the USDA Prime section at Costco. I've been to 5 or 6 local butchers and I always find myself going back to costco for selection and quality. The only thing they don't offer that a couple of the butchers do, is dry aging. Which can be hit or miss sometimes.
February 2, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, Gannan said: Same. Cooking for my family is something I really enjoy. I do all the cooking in my house (wife does the cleaning) I do like 75% of the house stuff. Granted my wife works more than I do and makes like 50% more than I do so we got the gender roles flipped a bit Cooking is the only one I enjoy though.
February 2, 20214 yr Just now, we_gotta_believe said: For beef, I haven't found anyone that can beat the USDA Prime section at Costco. I've been to 5 or 6 local butchers and I always find myself going back to costco for selection and quality. The only thing they don't offer that a couple of the butchers do, is dry aging. Which can be hit or miss sometimes. We have a farmers market where Amish/Mennonites come down from Lancaster on the weekends. There's nothing like getting meat that was mooing, oinking, or clucking just a few days prior to eating it. My wife is insisting we cut down on red meat, but when I do a pot roast, that's always the best option. They even have duck and goose there. Haven't attempted cooking either of those yet. They're expensive though. Chicken was around $4 a pound and even ground beef was like 6 or 7. Steaks are outrageous but good.
February 2, 20214 yr 18 minutes ago, Gannan said: I started to notice that. I wasn't sure if prices had gone up everywhere because of the pandemic or if Aldi was just changing. Totally random but i know their plans real well due to commercial real estate development efforts. They made the active decision to get away from cheap low end
February 2, 20214 yr 4 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: I do like 75% of the house stuff. Granted my wife works more than I do and makes like 50% more than I do so we got the gender roles flipped a bit Cooking is the only one I enjoy though. Aren't you a pediatrician or am I getting you confused with someone else? I am terrible at cleaning but have become quite a good cook, so it works out for us. I think the beginning of a marriage where you are trying to come up with an acceptable division of labor is always a challenge. For a few years I moved us away and my wife quit her job. I was making crazy money, so she did more around the house (she was even mowing our lawn). Now I make less and she works more, so always a balancing act.
February 2, 20214 yr 8 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said: For beef, I haven't found anyone that can beat the USDA Prime section at Costco. I've been to 5 or 6 local butchers and I always find myself going back to costco for selection and quality. The only thing they don't offer that a couple of the butchers do, is dry aging. Which can be hit or miss sometimes. Yup kroger and hell even target sometimes can do the best simply because of their sheer scale and distro systems
February 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, Gannan said: Aren't you a pediatrician or am I getting you confused with someone else? I am terrible at cleaning but have become quite a good cook, so it works out for us. I think the beginning of a marriage where you are trying to come up with an acceptable division of labor is always a challenge. For a few years I moved us away and my wife quit her job. I was making crazy money, so she did more around the house (she was even mowing our lawn). Now I make less and she works more, so always a balancing act. I am, but the wife is an OBGYN. Anyone doing surgeries/procedures typically makes more in the medical field (with a few exceptions). I also usually only do 4 days a week and 1 of em is telemedicine so I'm at home, while she's always either in the hospital or in the office. So relatively speaking I'm definitely the housewife in our situation. We're pretty good at dividing the labor I think. Cooking is a chore for her and cathartic to me so I do close to 100% of it. The rest we divide based on who has more time. Kid is going to be a curveball so we both have it written into our contracts that we can pull back to 3/4 time just in case, but we're not planning on it yet per se. Hopefully we can put away enough that we can cruise on investments eventually and pull back on hours. We'll see.
February 2, 20214 yr 21 minutes ago, Gannan said: Yeah we did costco in NC and now BJs back up here. Aldi has been a good option but I havent been thrilled with some of their meat. We got a new Aldi closer to me (the older one is further up the road) and it's very modern and fancy looking whereas the older one looks like a more ghetto place. It's also smaller like a market. We haven't really seen things that make it worthwhile and they put it in the same intersection where the 2 main grocery chains are also located so it's not like a convenience to save you a drive or anything. They do have some European chocolate and craft beer so there's that.
February 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, DEagle7 said: I am, but the wife is an OBGYN. Anyone doing surgeries/procedures typically makes more in the medical field (with a few exceptions). I also usually only do 4 days a week and 1 of em is telemedicine so I'm at home, while she's always either in the hospital or in the office. So relatively speaking I'm definitely the housewife in our situation. We're pretty good at dividing the labor I think. Cooking is a chore for her and cathartic to me so I do close to 100% of it. The rest we divide based on who has more time. Kid is going to be a curveball so we both have it written into our contracts that we can pull back to 3/4 time just in case, but we're not planning on it yet per se. Hopefully we can put away enough that we can cruise on investments eventually and pull back on hours. We'll see. imagine trying to do OBGYN on zoom....
February 2, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, DEagle7 said: I am, but the wife is an OBGYN. Anyone doing surgeries/procedures typically makes more in the medical field (with a few exceptions). I also usually only do 4 days a week and 1 of em is telemedicine so I'm at home, while she's always either in the hospital or in the office. So relatively speaking I'm definitely the housewife in our situation. We're pretty good at dividing the labor I think. Cooking is a chore for her and cathartic to me so I do close to 100% of it. The rest we divide based on who has more time. Kid is going to be a curveball so we both have it written into our contracts that we can pull back to 3/4 time just in case, but we're not planning on it yet per se. Hopefully we can put away enough that we can cruise on investments eventually and pull back on hours. We'll see. Yeah I work with surgeons. They make crazy mad loot. In the age of covid seeing the kinds of houses they have on zoom calls has been eye opening. I agree that cooking can be cathartic. I really enjoy doing big Italian Sunday dinners. I spend like half the day in the kitchen. I'll have a game on and a beer or a glass of wine. I don't tell my wife, but I really enjoy it
February 2, 20214 yr 34 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said: Are we not developed as a nation at this point? Yes, but development is continuous. We can still fall behind our international competitors, and despite being nominally developed, we still have massive amounts of untapped resources and and undeveloped land. The size of the nation gives us a unique advantage over the rest of the developed world in that regard. There's still a lot of unused potential within our borders.
February 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said: imagine trying to do OBGYN on zoom.... Funny enough my SIL (also an OBGYN) actually has done a few of those this past year 😬 2 minutes ago, Gannan said: Yeah I work with surgeons. They make crazy mad loot. In the age of covid seeing the kinds of houses they have on zoom calls has been eye opening. I agree that cooking can be cathartic. I really enjoy doing big Italian Sunday dinners. I spend like half the day in the kitchen. I'll have a game on and a beer or a glass of wine. I don't tell my wife, but I really enjoy it Hey she doesn't make full surgeon money but yeah...it's not bad. This is the first year we've both made a real salary and it's a real shock to the system. Same with cooking. 5 mg edible and some crappy TV show and I can cook for hours.
February 2, 20214 yr 5 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said: Yes, but development is continuous. We can still fall behind our international competitors, and despite being nominally developed, we still have massive amounts of untapped resources and and undeveloped land. The size or the nation gives a unique advantage in that regard. There's still a lot of unused potential within our borders. you are talking about evolution. which means destroying what used to be. we are already developed. there is no need to develop the wide open spaces...unless there is oil there i guess. Hell after moving to the midwest, I would say people who struggle on the coasts with COL should move to cheaper areas. but no, they are entitled children...who want what they want...right now...where they want it.
February 2, 20214 yr 51 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said: For beef, I haven't found anyone that can beat the USDA Prime section at Costco. I've been to 5 or 6 local butchers and I always find myself going back to costco for selection and quality. The only thing they don't offer that a couple of the butchers do, is dry aging. Which can be hit or miss sometimes. This was stunning to me. On the few occasions that we actually do cook at home, it is usually steaks. I tried high end butcher shops, Whole Foods, everything. Nothing beats Cotco steaks. It's remarkable.
February 2, 20214 yr 50 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said: Totally random but i know their plans real well due to commercial real estate development efforts. They made the active decision to get away from cheap low end may not be the best decision. ill go to shoprite and/or sam's club if the prices are in the same ballpark.
February 2, 20214 yr 33 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said: you are talking about evolution. which means destroying what used to be. we are already developed. there is no need to develop the wide open spaces...unless there is oil there i guess. Hell after moving to the midwest, I would say people who struggle on the coasts with COL should move to cheaper areas. but no, they are entitled children...who want what they want...right now...where they want it. I couldn't afford to live in Southern California anymore. I pay about the same now for a 3 BR, 2.5 BA house with a huge bonus room, home office and 2 car garage on a quiet suburban cul de sac with a fenced in yard, community playground and green space with walking/biking paths, bridges over the creek and good to get out in nature. Before I was cramped in a 1 BR apartment of 700 sq feet in a sardine complex with thin walls, smelling your neighbor's cooking and hearing all their noises and getting only 1 assigned parking spot and the other person has to circle the area and walk. My sister-in-law is moving here next year with her husband because he wants land and to build a house himself. They're in a tiny 1 BR in similar situation and he makes good money. People in CA scoffed at moving and said the cost of living and housing might be cheaper but the pay is so much less. It isn't much different, but the housing and other costs are so much higher.
February 2, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, vikas83 said: Not trying to be a D, but is that considered a lot? If I look at it, we probably spend twice that a week on meals for just the 2 of us. EDIT: just glancing at it, and we definitely spend over $100/day on food. What the heck are you eating? Golden eggs?
February 2, 20214 yr 2 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said: What the heck are you eating? Golden eggs? I only eat endangered species!
February 2, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, Phillyterp85 said: What the heck are you eating? Golden eggs? We order food from restaurants. Dinners are anywhere from $50-$400. Lunch today was $25 for me.
February 2, 20214 yr Just now, vikas83 said: We order food from restaurants. Dinners are anywhere from $50-$400. Lunch today was $25 for me. Ahh so you order out for a lot of meals. Got it. Yeah that will add up for sure then. We found a steal of a deal in our new neighborhood (recently moved to South Jersey from Philly). There’s a nice Italian restaurant not too far from us. They have a takeout special: choice of house or Caesar salad. Entree sized pasta. Entree sized chicken parm or chicken maximo (and these entree sizes are huge), cheesecake desert, loaf of bread, and bottle of wine for a total of $55. And the quantity is huge. We ordered last week and we ate it for 3 nights. And it’s not a cheap restaurant either. I can’t imagine they are making much money off this deal.
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