besties can I be real honest with you? I'm so fucking tired of not having enough money to live

Okay, I'm just gonna complain about the dismal state of housing for a bit, if that's okay? Adding a cut because this got very long.

So, like, not gonna mention any actual figures, but when we were growing up, we weren't living paycheck to paycheck, we were doing okay, but like... we were fairly frugal, and it was clear that it was because we needed to be, you know? Only buying used cars, almost only got hand-me-down clothes, store brand everything, didn't replace things if they still somewhat worked, anything technology related always secondhand and usually at least one generation behind, only one or two vacations that weren't either camping or visiting extended family, that kinda stuff. Anyway, Dad and I were talking the other day about how (apparently) the amount of money you "should" have saved is six months of income, and Mom and Dad didn't get to that point until I was already an adult.

And look, it depends on how you look at things of course, but if we're looking at that type of metric I'm technically in a proportionally better financial position than my parents were at my age. I don't have six months of income saved, but I'm not too far off (and I did have that amount before the Tinlightenment Kickstarter so... oops lol). I still function under the mindset of "if I haven't looked at my bank account in the past hour assume it's almost empty" so I historically do not spend money on things that aren't gifts or necessities unless it's something VERY important to me, and I'm still following those rules, even if I'm also like "hey, I can actually afford to donate money to people who need it now!" which is great, but basically, even though I'm going to have more expenses coming up I have more financial wiggle room than my parents did at my age.

And yet I would not be able to apply for a 1-bedroom apartment anywhere nearby without a co-signer, because there's nowhere within an hour or so where the rent is a third of my gross pay. And yet the concept of being able to purchase a home is a complete pipe dream. For a 20% down payment on a house basically anywhere close enough that I'd consider moving to, I'd pretty much have to save every cent of my take-home pay for three years, and that would just be for the down payment! When they were a little younger than I was, my parents were able to buy a house about half an hour away from where I'm currently living. I don't know how much it cost, but it looks like when we moved it sold for $178k, and since they bought it a decade prior presumably they purchased it for less than that. Apparently the estimated price for that house today is around $630k. And, granted, I am bummed out for my own sake. But just thinking about how many people are in the same or worse position than my parents were at my age, how that number keeps growing, how housing is becoming scarcer and less affordable by the day, and just... it's fucking infuriating, you know? Obviously, I want everyone to be able to live lives where they're able to have the things they want, not just the things they need, but while this is definitely not a novel thought nobody should have to live a life where their basic needs of food or shelter either are not fulfilled or are constantly hanging in the balance.