Intro: You're Either Not Middle Class Or You're Doing It Wrong, the surprise $400 expense

I was driving home the other day when there was a guy on NPR talking about how it wasn't fair that he was middle class but couldn't afford a surprise $400 expense. To this I angrily shouted to myself

"You're either not middle class, or you're doing it wrong!"

This guy was funny: he spent a solid amount of time defending that he was a solidly middle class professional writer.

We can talk about how to define middle class later, but he indicated middle class was:

• Owning a house that was $250k+
• Newish car for you and spouse
• Family vacation once a year

To which I responded, "Oh.... oh my...."

He went on to muse about his facet that failed and how it cost $150 to repair... to which I responded, "Oh... oh no.... that's......  oh goodness."

If you don't see it yet this will be a great blog to read because this guy was blatantly doing it wrong. As a recent first time home buyer I can confirm that houses are expensive. They generate many $400+ surprise expenses. But I can also confirm that I had four faucets fail in the first month of owning my home and I spent $80 replacing all of them. So how the fuck did this guy spend twice as much money replacing a single faucet as I did replacing four? Because he fell into the ultimate middle class trap: entitlement. This guy should have known that faucets fail. If he can't save enough money to replace the $150 faucet, he shouldn't have bought such an expensive house.


What's the point? This blog will be about well, being middle class. I want you to be happier in your life. Life is short and having to be stressed about money all the time does not make for a fun life. I want you to be comfortable in your home. A house is a great investment because you basically get to save money while also having a place to live. The focus of this blog will be on solutions to this entitlement problem in the middle class, and the first step:relearning preschool.