They are either trying to gaslight people or are just out of touch.

They also likely didn't budget $7750 to max out an HSA account. Without that we'd be in perpetual medical debt.

Why do people adopt pit bulls? It is always the same dog in all these articles.

If it’s broken down by actual breed, rather than misidentification, you would find that another dog breed is actually responsible for more dog bites and fatalities, and that even then it’s a small number. Pit Bulls (American Staffordshire Terrier, AKC name) is an actual breed, however everyone uses the phrase Pit Bull to describe any number of bully breed (named because they come from bull dogs) dogs. As evidenced by this story, even the people with first hand knowledge can’t definitely say it’s a pit, yet a dozen Reddit geniuses came on here to ask society to genocide a dog breed, or bad mouth the owners. So there’s just a little bit of bias.

The difference between us

...you must have an AMAZING boiler if you are only burning 60 to 80 gallons a month.

I burn about 1200 gallons a year. I'm on a budget plan with the oil company. Last year we paid about $300 a month. This year it's almost $600 a month.

My house is a little bigger than yours at 1640 sq ft

I keep mine at about 70, it’s my only heat source. This winter I’ve averaged $300/mo. My house is about 1400sq/fr. How big is your house?

Stupid is as stupid does, Larry.

Go away, troll.

No, because I’m useless. It’s pitbullinfo.org, the 3rd or 4th thing that comes up when you google “dog bite statistics by breed”

sadly your dog sucks

“Deranged political agenda” ma’am I am a Liberal, this has nothing to do with politics.
“Do you also want to teach young boys they shouldn’t go to the gym to get more fit” the difference is gaining muscle is reversible, if you decide you no longer want to be skinny you can be fat again, no biggie. However if you cut off your pp or your boobies there’s really no going back.

The reason I am so against children permanently changing their bodies is because I’ve had plastic surgery at a young age and I know the effects it can have on a child and later on in life. It can take years to mentally recover from having a surgery that you yourself agreed to. There’s been a growing group within the trans community of people that are saying it’s okay to keep your pp and still identify as a woman, that having bottom surgery comes with complications that might now be worth it. Are those trans people causing harm?

Yeah, I’m an idiot for standing up for everyone who owns a type of dog. You’re a mouthy pussy though, case closed.

Realistic to whom? Your user name suggests you don't live in Maine full time, which means you must have a certain level of income outside the norm for most Mainers.

I'm not trying to be rude, but your baseline for most Mainers is not accurate. $400 for groceries is not going to feed a family of 4 with today's prices. You left a little of $1700 for other expenses. That is not enough for car payment, sewer, water, electricity, oil Internet, gas, meds and other necessities.

I don't know your story, but with the evidence I have I cannot imagine you raised kids within the last decade.

You just have to get a little smelly tree that matches the current sticker color.

Could be. Like I said before, I've worked at a few different kinds of shelters, in different areas, and it's been pretty consistent regarding this topic.

I mentioned the southeast shelter specifically because in my experience that neck of the woods still has a very long way to go regarding how they treat animals, yet they still had policies like I described.

Maybe in 2005. I'd wager the average student loan borrower today is paying back at least $600/mo on the 10 year plan. Two borrowers? Double it, obviously.

As for childcare, others clearly disagree with you there too. Just look at the OP.

Ok you win

Pfffft

I live off Forest Ave. Both are hell in Maine. But I'd have to agree that traveling through wiscasset rt.1 is absolute bullshit. At least forest has 4 lanes. And Baxter boulevard (although closed for the past 3 fucking years) provides a nice bypass when it's not being held hostage by utilities and sewer reconstruction. Both are BAD. Have definitely fantasized about arson because of both dysfunctions. Am I guilty? no. Could this be traced back to me in the future? It's not out of the question.

This was in the southwest. I don’t know what the rules are. Humane society may be different than the county shelter as well in terms of whatever system they use.

Could be. Or just that specific shelter. One of the shelters I worked at was in the southeast (a SW Virginia Humane Society), and it was as I mentioned. We'd do anything we could to not label a dog that way.

I didn’t get my dog in the northeast, so it could be regional. And it doesn’t say pitbull, it says pit mix. I noticed that with almost all medium sized dogs when I got my dog. My dog doesn’t even have any pit features. He has a long face and looks like a lab. He does have shortish hair, but not the same kind of hair as pits. So, I remember it being weird. Conversely almost all small dogs were labeled chihuahua mix.

Not the original person you were responding to, but i read your post and couldn't help to think its a little detached from what I've experienced. First off your income is much larger than the average, the average Mainer makes 36k a year, households 63k, so you taking home over 65k after taxes, health insurance, and retirement makes you much wealthier than your average Mainer. I know 10k-20k doesn't seem much but it adds up over time and giving you opportunities others cannot.

Secondly getting a house in southern Maine for under 350k is gonna be a struggle. Sure you'll find some houses for 300k but they either require a lot of repairs, or you'll find yourself in a bidding war and the price will end up near the 350-400k anyways. For the numbers below I took a 300k house in Ogunquit for the numbers.

So lets run these numbers for the average Mainer to see what it looks like.

Income - $5,416

Taxes* - $1,300

Home - $1,990

Utilities - $200 (low estimate for a home)

Groceries - $400 (Very small for a family of 3, and the price keeps rising)

Health Insurance - $200-800$ (depending on your job and the family plan)

Child care - $1000 (your estimate cost)

And we've already run out of money for the average Mainer, and we haven't gotten to phone bills, car bills, gas, car insurance, emergencies, retirement, basic needs, and everything else.

Now I know you can say don't buy that much house on that income, but the alternative is renting, which wouldn't be that much cheaper short term and much more expensive the the long run.

You might say then move to place with a lower cost of living, but these either farther away from family (who can bring down child care expenses), or from better playing jobs which then makes the cheaper cost of living still hard to maintain. The other expenses, I'm not sure how you get around them.

You keep saying "live below your means", but I can help to notice your earning almost three times the average Mainer, and idk if you know what that would mean in todays world.

https://mclaughlinappliance.com