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| Saturday, September 05, 2009 |
| Broke and borrowing for their dreams |
Caitlin Shetterly has finally been hired by NPR to provide an update on her families progress - Recession Diary: From Mom's Home To Their Own. I had seen in her blog a few weeks ago that she and Dan had made the move to an apartment in Portland, ME. The NPR stories provides a few more details on the financial ramifications of their latest decisions: Dan had dreamed of teaching photography at the college level his whole life. The day before the deadline to tell the program if he was going to come, he got a strong lead on a bartending job 30 minutes outside Portland, Maine. After crunching some numbers, we decided we might be able to piece this together: We could live in Portland, and Dan could commute the two-hour journey to school and sleep at my uncle's place one night a week. We'd need government loans to cover his tuition and a lot of creative thinking.
"I signed the lease on our first apartment since leaving California," Dan said. "Later on that afternoon, I was officially offered my first job in six months."
Dan took the bartending job. Along with my freelance gigs, we're going to go for it. In early August, we packed up from my mother's. Before we left, my mom said that if things don't work out, we're welcome back.
"The only difference is going to be that Dan and I are going to put a bathroom in downstairs," she said. "I insist on that."
With a car full of gear, we pulled out of the driveway.
We're still unpacking boxes in our new apartment and setting up what will be my son's first room. We're counting every penny to make this work. It's harder than either of us anticipated. Dan is commuting to work and in a few days will also be commuting to school. I'm alone with the baby a lot, and money is very tight. But in the long run, we hope this will be the right choice.
In the end, through all the bumps and pitfalls of the last year, we're holding onto our dreams. This is something we can one day tell our son.
- Update: A Man, A Woman, Baby, and a new apartment
- I can't even break my own dreams because they're being broken for me
- A Man, Woman, Baby And An Empty Bank AccountLabels: Money Stories |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 6:56 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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*sigh* I REALLY wish they had not done this. The couple is already under stress due to new baby, no money, and stress of so many things not working out for them. Over the last few months, at least they have been bonding together and gaining strength and comfort from their son, family, and each other.
Now they have the stress of new debt, long periods of separation, travel, couch surfing, oh and trying to excel in your courses while trying to work, drive, and occasionally see your family!
I hope Caitlin and Dan's marriage survives this.
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I've commented before about this couple. This just sounds crazy to me.
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I'm just shaking my head. Yes, there is the 1 in a million chance that the dream of being a full time writer, photographer, actor, artist, etc. will pay off one day. Yes, Oprah followed her passion and is a deca-googa-gazillionaire. But, c'mon ... didn't this couple follow their dream to sunny CA with the same head in the sand attitude???
When will this couple learn? How many positions are available for photography professors in colleges??? That dude is going to be teaching housewives at community ed classes in suburbia.
This couple needs to read about Escape Brooklyn's tale of getting a MFA in film, then heading to NYC. That girl followed her dream - didn't work out, but she followed and had sense to head in a different directions after accumulating a lot of debt for her fancy degree.
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I pray that everything will work out as they have planned. I also understand American culture says that adults should not live with their parents, but I think there are so many benefits to multi-generational living and the priority should be on saving money.
A job loss, a medical emergency, a car accident (2 hour late night commuting?) -- so many things can happen and when you're living on the edge, the goal should be stockpiling cash to cushion against contingencies, not just to be able to say you live on your own.
I wish they had stayed with the mother longer to accumulate more emergency savings before they moved into their own apartment. I imagine bartending tips would be highly variable in this economy.
Again, I wish them the best of luck, but I think they need to focus on managing some of the risks they are taking on.
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I think MFA programs are money-makers for schools, but I'm not sure what they "do" for their students.
It is sometimes possible to land a teaching job at a college, but for those you need talent, connections, good people skills, and an awful lot of luck. Also, many college jobs for MFAs are, sadly, part-time.
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*sigh* I REALLY wish they had not done this. The couple is already under stress due to new baby, no money, and stress of so many things not working out for them. Over the last few months, at least they have been bonding together and gaining strength and comfort from their son, family, and each other.
Now they have the stress of new debt, long periods of separation, travel, couch surfing, oh and trying to excel in your courses while trying to work, drive, and occasionally see your family!
I hope Caitlin and Dan's marriage survives this.