Catching Up on Emails
I suck at responding to emails. My friends in real life can also tell you that I suck at returning phone calls. I’m sorry. But as you can see from this post, I do read them all.
EMAIL RESPONSE #1
A reader asked me how Precious was doing because I hadn’t blogged about her in a long time. I didn’t realize you guys were interested in the minor non-PF details of my life, so when I read the email, it made me smile. :-)
Well, Precious is still a big ball of fluffy white fur and she adds so much joy to our lives. I wish my camera was working so I could post a recent picture of her. She turned 8 years old this month – what is that in dog years – 56? Although she is barely 10 lbs, she’s a protector and a nurturer. She sat by my side the entire time I was sick, and the only time she left me was when BabyGirl had to take her out to potty. Other than that, when I moved, she moved. It was annoyingly cute.
EMAIL RESPONSE #2
A reader sent me an email to thank me for sharing my life on the blog. At the end of the email, the reader said “Thank you for showing that there is an end of the tunnel to all single parents, and yes sometimes we can afford things, but don’t do them anyway because there is no way im going back to macaroni and cheese 5 nights a week”
I fell out laughing because I remember those days as well. ^5 to ya! No way in hell I’m going back there either! Nope, uhn uhn! LOL!
EMAIL RESPONSE #3
A reader emailed me about my “What If…” post and stated “I was amazed when I read that you raised a daughter and save so much money yet you haven’t made over $30,000 a year for at least 10 years.” I don’t know if it’s how the comment was worded, but there seems to be a misunderstanding about the post, so I wanted to clarify.
I’ve been in the workforce for 16 years. For the first 10 years, I earned less than $30k. In the last 6 years, my income has grown to over $100k. This isn’t unusual when a career is established post-college. However, income is only ONE part of the equation. You must also consider my lifestyle. I don’t buy luxury or try to keep up with the Joneses. I primarily shop at Target, Ross and Macy’s. I drive a 6 year old Honda Accord. My required living expenses (shelter, food, hygiene, and basic transportation) are less than 35% of my net income. In addition, I have no consumer debt. So this leaves quite a bit of disposable income to save. Now, I won’t lie and say I save as much as I could. I spend a lot too. But I spend based on my priorities. A few people I know have even gone so far as calling me “cheap.” LOL!
Confession: This post has been in a draft for WEEKS! I planned to respond to several more emails, but life keeps getting in the way. So I decided to go ahead and post before my responses became stale. There are about a dozen more that I plan to address very soon. If you have any questions you’d like to ask or simply want to drop me a line, feel free to do so in the comments, on Twitter, or email. I will answer (almost) any question and post my response on the blog.
Toodles!
This blog is a personal account of my journey to become Healthy & Wealthy. If you like what you've read, feel free to subscribe via (feed reader) or (email) to follow along.
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I love you signed this one off “Toodles!” Sometimes it’s the little things that crack me up. Thanks for that!
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Hear hear on #3 re: income and not spending everything just because you have the cash and the means to.
:)
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Glad to know Precious is happy!
I’m not a single mom, but in my brokest days it wasn’t mac n’ cheese, it was Oodles of Noodles and ham sammiches with reeeeaaallllly thin lunchmeat. I do still have Oodles of Noodles as a snack sometimes, you know, for nostalgia.
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Hey Single Ma,
Wanted to know what you thought about Bernake’s comments at Morehouse:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/04/bernanke.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Very interesting article. I have a two part answer. Will post my thoughts in the near future. [-SM]
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“In the last 6 years, my income has grown to over $100k.”
The shortest distance from poverty to wealth is education-
This is why most people cannot cut expenses and live below their means, some cannot afford it. To be honest, I find it better to live simple on a nice salary than to on a meager salary, you have more elbow room to be comfortable on a better salary.
Single ma, you will always be explaining your financial situation to people that have not followed your blog since day 1. For newbies, they may not understand you. So get use of it. LOL
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i’d like to know about Mr. Eye Candy…can we get an update please?? :)
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Now, who would call you cheap?!? :–)
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