This outfit inspiration chain is like a game of telephone...or perhaps a very short daisy chain. The style challenge creator developed the outfit on the left, which one of the participants interpreted in the outfit on the right. I used that outfit as the inspiration for mine.
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| From...???? I have lost the source. Sorry! |
However, because this is an early spring outfit, I added back jeans and a cardigan (and kept the scarf). So I guess I pretty much went with the most body-covering options from the two outfits to make this work for Coldville.
Grey/cream striped T (Kohls), $2.55/wear
*Pastel zebra infinity scarf (Walmart), $2.50/wear+
Straight leg jeans (thrifted, Bandolinoblu), $0.22/wear
Mint cardigan (Lands End), $2.50/wear+
Olive leopard flats (Nordstrom Rack), $5.99/wear
Outfit total: $13.76/wear
The other obvious difference is that I switched the cardigan color from coral to mint because (1) I don't own a coral cardigan, (2) I have this cardigan I need to wear for the Work the Wardrobe Challenge, (3) it goes well with this new scarf (also needed to wear for the WtWC), and (4) it's a nicer color for a pale blonde to wear. Not that being a less-than-flattering color stops me from something (well, except for that horrible mustard cardigan/Golden Gophers costume!) but it's always a bonus when the outfit color works with my own coloring.
In other news...Over at Note of the Living Deb, homeowner's insurance is the topic of the day. I'm not a homeowner, so I have no input on how to determine the amount to insure your house for, but I was interested in her comments about new housing in Austin appearing to be all luxury housing and the attendant problem with gentrification generally: So now where does everybody else live? My mom and I were discussing that with regard to the San Fransisco area when we visited my sister last month and were talking about the house that they got for a relative steal given how crazy expensive houses are out there.
But when my brother-in-law was checking out house prices in other cities recently, he was surprised to see that Austin was a pretty pricey city. So while SF might seem all about the do re mi, it's not alone in that respect. Some parts of "Beautiful Texas" may not be a lot more affordable (once nominal prices are adjusted for pay levels).
My guess is that even though the housing is not "affordable" to a lot of people, there are enough people who want to live near the center of the city/in nice neighborhoods (however defined)/etc. to keep prices high so that less affluent people are moving further and further away from town. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Observations? Actual data??
This article from last fall in Forbes mentions that increased housing prices in Austin have "eroded" the city's financial advantage (income vs. cost of living), though it still does well on their rankings (#19). Houston is #1 on the list, which feels right to me. Surprisingly, San Jose, CA is #2. Dallas-Fort Worth is #5.
6 comments:
Most of my (much richer) friends are in the suburbs or different cities that are now considered suburbs (Pflugerville, Round Rock). Not that they pay less then me, though, they just get more space and maybe better schools (my elementry wins awards).
I have also heard of four students living in two-bedroom apartments.
But where actual poor and lower-middle-class grown-ups (besides me) live, I don't know. Before the apartments behind my house were remodeled (with "luxury" granite countertops, of course), it seemed like people were probably using their living rooms as bedrooms, so they had to use their porches as living rooms. I used to hear a fair amount of honking in the morning which I assumed was people driving for carpools not taking the time to run up and knock on the door. I fear they have to live in scarier far-away neighborhoods and share clunker cars.
If it gets too crazy, one of our back-up plans is to sell and move to Oklahoma, probably Oklahoma City. It's too cold there for my taste, though. But I've heard that some parts of California are cheap but they just don't have any jobs. I no longer need a job to support myself, so that could be interesting.
Oklahoma absolutely does have a low cost of living, especially low housing costs, so that does make sense as a back-up plan. I have not heard that about California, though my sister did relate how a friend's parents recently sold their place and moved up into what is effectively a mansion in Napa. I'd be curious what part of California it could be with low cost of living.
My guess is that parts away from the coast and/or away from big cities.
Quick googling of low cost of living California cities retirement returned information on small cities/towns with median house prices in the range of $200,000 to $300,000--which does seem cheap by CA standards, though not objectively cheap IMO.
Central Valley CA used to be pretty cheap but more people are moving out there and commuting (and/or telecommuting).
Jen, that's interesting--I hadn't thought about how telecommuting could change things up!
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