Steins takes a breath. Life in this $2.5 million house was built on the premise of two incomes, not the income of a divorced mother of three in a tanked economy. Her property taxes are $35,000 a year, the nanny is $40,000 and the gardener is $500 a month.Life is tough on the mean streets of Westchester County when you only make $300,000/yr. She could save $6,000 each year by making her oldest son get off his ass and mow the lawn on Saturday mornings, but that's sooo gauche. Making your kid cut the grass? Ewww! That's what Mexicans are for.
Since the recession hit, Steins worries about how sudden financial insecurity affects her children.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The lady of the house descends.
The Washington Post closed the comments on this piece of idiocy.
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5 comments:
I know a fair number of familes like that. They are afraid of lawn mowers, clippers. Afraid that Jr. might cut himself. Plus, it's dirty, sweaty work.
Better the kid go hang out at the tennis club, and, later in life go to law school, become a politician and then write laws telling everyone how to obey the 'Safe Lawn Care Act' of the 2024 Congress.
I find lawn and yard work quite relaxing, and it is great exercise.
Yeah I read that earlier. I loved it, thought is was funny stuff. I make alot more than $300k per year, and my kids work "like Mexicans". That's how I earned what we have, and it's the only way we'll be able to keep it. In the marketplace, my kids will eat their lunch: We are blessed by the quality of our competition.
Every day above ground is a work day, and every work day is a privilege.
Dan, I wish you could come to my place and enjoy the DC humidity while getting your relaxation and exercise! I'm pretty well burned out on it by mid-summer. Sure, it's still exercise, especially given my sloping yard, but put me on a bike or some hiking boots instead, please.
Here's hoping for a cold, early, dry autumn to shut this grass down!
Oh, and back to the topic... I saw that article a week or so ago when it came out, as did my wife and some visiting friends - friends who make just above poverty line.
For them, the situations in that article seemed like news from another planet as they, 40 years old and barely making it, struggle to cobble together the cash (and space) to install their first-ever washing machine in their tiny house.
I like the notion of "working like Mexicans". That's something some of those kids sure could learn. I did that in college, and I made a lot of money $15 at a time. Hot, sweaty work to be sure, but maybe more than the money, it taught me early on how to work.
It also made me appreciate the most miserable of office jobs, since even the worst day in the office has (so far) always been a lot more pleasant than the typical day spent shoving that lawnmower through the weeds on a hot afternoon in the Deep South.
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