Unpopular Opinions!

krizzo17

Ok, this one is actually as a question, since I don't know if it is a popular or unpopular opinion:

 

Am I supposed to hate Ted on How I Met Your Mother? Because I like the show, but he drives me crazy.

southernbelle0915

krizzo17 said:

Ok, this one is actually as a question, since I don't know if it is a popular or unpopular opinion:

Am I supposed to hate Ted on How I Met Your Mother? Because I like the show, but he drives me crazy.

Another UO - I hate that show all together. 

krizzo17

southernbelle0915 said:

krizzo17 said:

Ok, this one is actually as a question, since I don't know if it is a popular or unpopular opinion:

Am I supposed to hate Ted on How I Met Your Mother? Because I like the show, but he drives me crazy.

Another UO - I hate that show all together. 

"Like" was actually me being very generous there. What I meant was "I prefer watching that show over everything else my husband suggests"

ShallowSeas

krizzo17 said:

Ok, this one is actually as a question, since I don't know if it is a popular or unpopular opinion:

 

Am I supposed to hate Ted on How I Met Your Mother? Because I like the show, but he drives me crazy.

He drives me crazy too!! I don't know anyone that actually likes that character...

kitty8403

bubbles053009 said:

lmhollister said:

BF and I decided to not dump our entire savings into a 20% downpayment for a more expensive home...so we decided how much we wanted to have leftover in savings and then used the remainder as a 20% downpayment on a less expensive home. When we got the pre-approval letter from the bank, we requested to be pre-approved only for the price of the home we were interested in buying. So now we have an $800 a month mortgage payment (includes escrow), 6 months of emergency savings in the bank, and if one of us were to find ourselves without a job...the other person would still be able to comfortably afford the mortgage payment on their own. Sure...we could have "afforded" to buy a home that cost us the same as our former monthly rent (around $1400) but we decided to take a more conservative approach. We eventually plan to upgrade when we can afford a bigger 20% downpayment on a bigger, newer, better home. I honestly believe we're more ahead because 1. We don't have PMI 2. Our cost of living is significantly reduced from when we were renting. So now we're able to save more every month for upgrades to our house, money for a future home, things like that.

For full disclosure: I live in metro Atlanta. Obv our overall cost of living doesn't align AT ALL with cost of living in the New England area. However, we were still able to buy an 1800 sq foot home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a partial basement plus it sits on a nearly 1 acre lot. It was not a foreclosure although there are PLENTY of homes around here on the market that are.

I think it's total BS to say that it "isn't possible" to put 20% down on a home and still be able to afford the other expenses that come up.

I'm not going to completely disagree with you. However, it may be cheaper for you to do it where you live, it isn't where I live. We looked into a lot of different properties to purchase when we first started looking. Everything that was in the range of his pre-approval would have put us into more debt than we already are. Most of the houses, not condos or mobile homes, we looked at needed major work just to be livable. It may be possible for someone who lives in an area where it is possible to put 20% down and not be in debt. Where I am though, not the case, especially if you aren't offered a very high amount for a loan.

ETA because my fingers move faster than I think


Just gonna throw this curveball in here--all of this financial talk gets a LOT different when you are self employed, not only because you have to put so much back into your business, but because saving up a big pile of cash for property is extremely difficult in that scenario. If you're an employee, you get payroll taxes taken out of each check, and what's left is what you live on or save. If you're an employer however, you pay taxes on what's left at the end of the year (your profits). So even if you did save up a lot during the year, it's pretty much all taxable and you just get bumped into a higher bracket. There are some ways around this, but in general, for self-employed folks, saving 20% down for a house does not make as good of financial sense as it does for equipment or vehicles, because the latter are business assets.

ETA: if your business makes enough money where you have $50,000 in excess income one year, you can't just keep that $50K. You are going to be taxed on it as pure profit. In general, if you decide to use that money as a typical down payment on your house, you can't write that off. But if you put most of that cash back into your business and spend LESS on your house down, then your tax hit isn't as bad. It's a pretty major disincentive to saving. :-/

labro

bubbles053009 said:

@Imhollister I apologize if I came off a bit harsh in my response. I just get annoyed when people question why we are doing things the way we are doing them. This is what we believe to be best for us so we are doing it.

UO: People who take things too personally. This is the internetz and I'm a stranger. Life is people offering up their opinions on other's choices so stop getting so up in arms over someone who disagrees on your decision-making process. This way you don't have to backtrack and apologize for being "harsh". I offered up my thoughts on what I think are generically good financial choices...even if they are conservative.

Also, here's Dave's budgeting tool so you can start working on saving up for some furniture. FWIW, I spent a summer sleeping on an airbed and using a folding table and chairs and watching TV from a bean bag before I got "real" furniture. Nothing wrong with boxes for end tables either.

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-lite/

easilyunamused

UO: I hate black Friday and will never participate. 

labro

LuvBird29 said:

UO: I hate black Friday and will never participate. 

+1 on this. I'm content to sit on my butt all Black Friday long. Although I'm probably just as bad as the Black Friday people. My mom and I get up at 5 am every December 26th and shop all the post-Christmas Day sales. We buy all our wrapping paper, decorations, ribbon, etc. for the next year.

Maggie0829

lmhollister said:

BF and I decided to not dump our entire savings into a 20% downpayment for a more expensive home...so we decided how much we wanted to have leftover in savings and then used the remainder as a 20% downpayment on a less expensive home. When we got the pre-approval letter from the bank, we requested to be pre-approved only for the price of the home we were interested in buying. So now we have an $800 a month mortgage payment (includes escrow), 6 months of emergency savings in the bank, and if one of us were to find ourselves without a job...the other person would still be able to comfortably afford the mortgage payment on their own. Sure...we could have "afforded" to buy a home that cost us the same as our former monthly rent (around $1400) but we decided to take a more conservative approach. We eventually plan to upgrade when we can afford a bigger 20% downpayment on a bigger, newer, better home. I honestly believe we're more ahead because 1. We don't have PMI 2. Our cost of living is significantly reduced from when we were renting. So now we're able to save more every month for upgrades to our house, money for a future home, things like that.

For full disclosure: I live in metro Atlanta. Obv our overall cost of living doesn't align AT ALL with cost of living in the New England area. However, we were still able to buy an 1800 sq foot home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a partial basement plus it sits on a nearly 1 acre lot. It was not a foreclosure although there are PLENTY of homes around here on the market that are.

I think it's total BS to say that it "isn't possible" to put 20% down on a home and still be able to afford the other expenses that come up.

In my area which is Bel Air, MD the average cost of a smaller home/town home is about $230K give or take.  The average cost of renting a small apartment is about $1300 a month. My H and I pay $1700 for our mortgage which also includes a yearly sewer assessment, taxes, and PMI.  Now are you really going to tell me that it would have been worth it for H and I to rent a small apartment (~800-1000 sq ft) as opposed to buying (~2000 sq ft town home) even though we could not put down 20%?

Again we are 100% comfortable paying for our home that we own rather then throwing away $1300 (which typically does not include utilities so that money we would be "saving" with not having a higher mortgage would have gone straight to utilities) a month while trying to save upwards of $50K to put down on a house.

ohannabelle

Hate elaborate choreographed dance numbers by the bride/groom/wedding party. It's a wedding, not a frikking dinner theater production of The Look At Me Show. It comes off as incredibly immature, like a high school girl fantasy of what happens at weddings. Blech. Frankly, this just makes my ass ache.

labro

Maggie0829 said:

In my area which is Bel Air, MD the average cost of a smaller home/town home is about $230K give or take.  The average cost of renting a small apartment is about $1300 a month. My H and I pay $1700 for our mortgage which also includes a yearly sewer assessment, taxes, and PMI.  Now are you really going to tell me that it would have been worth it for H and I to rent a small apartment (~800-1000 sq ft) as opposed to buying (~2000 sq ft town home) even though we could not put down 20%?

Again we are 100% comfortable paying for our home that we own rather then throwing away $1300 (which typically does not include utilities so that money we would be "saving" with not having a higher mortgage would have gone straight to utilities) a month while trying to save upwards of $50K to put down on a house.

I still feel the same way. Although in our case our priority was a lower monthly mortgage in case of job loss or a major financial emergency. One of us standing alone would struggle to afford a $1500+ a month mortgage payment while still paying for the essentials like gas and groceries and utilities. Where we are at in Atlanta...it's about $1300 on average for a standard/no upgrades 2 bedroom apartment about 20 miles out from the city. I don't know the average home cost here...although I think it's incredibly low right now because of the housing market situation...is around 90k for a shittastic foreclosure. Our house was 170k and is 25 years old. Thankfully in our county, property taxes are still incredibly low and I believe that's a big part of why our total monthly amount due is so small. I know that's not the case at all in MD.

I posted the Dave Ramsey links for a reason. You aren't throwing money away by renting...although I had the same attitude while renting. Renting gives you options you don't have when you own a home...like moving to a cheaper place quickly in case of a sudden change in your financial situation. During the financial crisis, a lot of people suddenly found themselves without jobs and unable to afford their mortgage. On top of that, they couldn't even sell their home and get out because of what was going on in the mortgage industry.

Another pro for putting more down when you buy a house is less interest accrued over the life of your loan. Unless you're currently making higher payments on the principal of your loan...then that would obviously offset the "cost" of going with a smaller downpayment, PMI, and a higher prinicpal loan amount.

Lavender123

bubbles053009 said:

severmilli12 said:

bubbles053009 said:

Anyway, my UO

1. The holidays go Halloween, Thanksgiving then Christmas. None of this BS of Christmas shit up in stores before Halloween. It makes me hate the holiday more when you get bombarded with it as soon as you walk into a store.
2. Contrary to what my BF's mother thinks, I think 115 for a 5'3" woman is a healthy weight.

In general, that is healthy. It also depends on your build. I have always been told that once you're past 5 ft, you should weigh at least 100 lbs, and its an additional 5lbs for every inch you are. So at 5'3', 115 sounds right on when using that method. But build plays into it as well, because I am 5'2' and  I lost weigh when I had my wisdom teeth taken out (thanks, dry sockets) and dropped to 118 lbs and I looked so sickly. Even though I am short, I am built with curves. I have hips and boobs and 118 was not a good look for me. On the other hand, my friend is 5'2' and weights 112 and she looks great; not sickly skinny but fit and healthy. So it all depends. You sound like you are right where you should be, and even though your picture on here is super tiny, I don't think you look unhealthy at all.

I've always been on the thin side but starting putting on weight when I got on the pill and started dating my BF. My senior year of high school I weighed 90 pounds because I got my wisdom teeth out and dropped 20 pounds in three weeks. That was 7 years ago and I've just now started to put most of that weight back on.

I have curves myself, hips and okay size boobs. But my BF's mother is fresh off the boat Portuguese where in that culture if you don't have meat on your bones there's something wrong with you, etc. It's been an uphill battle with her in regards to my weight but I'm happy where I'm at, though I would like maybe another 5 pounds.

She sounds crazy - 90lbs maybe, but no way is 115lbs at 5"3 skinny, sounds perfect! Ignore her - clearly your SO is happy with your weight! We aren't all born with the ability to have a Kim K ass - I really hate the media (and evidently also Portuguese mothers) persecution of slim women not being "real" women.. real women have many different shapes. 

thisismynickname2

bubbles053009 said:

2. Contrary to what my BF's mother thinks, I think 115 for a 5'3" woman is a healthy weight.

Goodness, overweight or underweight? I'm exactly that size myself and think I'm very healthy. People think I'm tiny, but I'm fairly muscular (gym and running) and also was just flat-out born with a small frame. Narrow shoulder, narrow hips, and unfortunately barely-A cups.  It's very annoying that people think I'm "tiny" because I "try" to be this size. For your sake I hope you mean she thinks you're underweight-- I saw an episode of Say Yes where this flat-out gorgeous, perfect woman's mom criticized her non-existent belly-pudge. Horrific.

On the mortgage discussion, I agree things depend on market and you shouldn't listen to what someone says you're approved for. I had a "good faith estimate" for a few different options including taxes and HOA and it really helped a lot. My down payment was 10% from my bank account and an additional 20% from Bank of Dad- with interest and a legal junior mortgage, believe it or not.  At the time I bought, 6% interest a month was a better investment for him than stocks, I avoided PMI and lowered my overall costs so it was a win-win. 

Maggie0829

I understand all the pros to putting more down on a house. But in our situation we did not want to be renting for another 10+ years. We wanted a house with more space and the added PMI was not a big enough con to disuade us. I mean we got twice the space and are home owners for only an extra $400 a month which includes payments towards taxes, our yearly assessment and PMI.

And yes taxes here are outrageous and we live within town limits so we pay town and county taxes instead of just county.

Also we have a nice savings account so that if anything (god forbid) were to happen we would be set for awhile. And we have no plans of moving out of Bel Air anytime soon so renting for the purposes of moving quickly just didn't even make it on the pro/con list.

erinlin25

1) I cannot stand that people are already decorating for Christmas-- Thanksgiving is first people!!  Slow your roll.  AND I cannot stand Christmas music before Dec 1. 

2) I wish Miley Cyrus would just go away

3) and Kayne and Kim Kardashian too

WinstonsGirl

We put 20% down on this house, but we were able to as we both owned properties from before we met.  The equity from my first house was the reason I could put in my half.  My first house (a little duplex) only had 5% put down, and I paid CHMC on it too (mortgage insurance).  I couldn't have afforded 20%.  

My UO - I hate painted finger nails.  I think it looks cheap, though I don't mind the cool designs people are doing now over solid colours.  I also hated the black nail polish trend.  And while I know it's horribly uncool and out of style, I still think a nice french manicure looks clean and classic over colour.  I do prefer a slight goldish/pinkish tinge to soften the white though, instead of just clear.  Toes on the other hand, need colour

Fezzik42

I feel the same way about tiaras!  My mom tried to put one on my head when I was dress shopping!!  The horror!!!

tmclawchick

UO/rant: It irritates me when cats/dogs are equated to children. I can handle people calling them "furbabies", but one of my friends has a facebook page for her cat, and regularly posts about the cat's habits and how he must get said habits from her fiance (aka 'dad'). It creeps me out. When DS was born, I even got a few "I know what you mean. When Mittens throws up I feel so bad." Unless you spent the first few months waking up at all hours of the night to nurse/change Mittens, then no. You don't know what I mean.

There. Now 3 years of pent up rage has been released.

HaileyDancingbear

This rant is about a dress on "Say yes to the dress."  If you've seen more than one episode, you've probably seen it.  It's on pretty much every episode.  If not, here's a picture:

http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/say-yes-to-the-dress/photos/sexy-wedding-dress-pictures.htm

(Scroll to dress #6)

My UO: I hate that freaking pnina tornai gown.  It has a see-through bodice.  It looks like tinker bell vomited on the bride's boobs.  There are different versions of this gown with different skirts, but they all have the same ridiculous bodice, and I honestly don't now which version hate more.  These are my two main reasons for hating it:  

1.  They pick it in pretty much every episode.  Every single time a bride comes in and says "I want something different," they show her this same exact dress.  And most of the time she buys it.  Anyone else find the irony in that?  It drives me nuts XD

2. the see-through bodice.  I get you want to show your fiancé a lot of skin, but does grandma really need to see that?  You've got the rest of your life to bare it all for your husband, you can cover it up for a day in front of your families.  I'm not saying you should be ashamed if your shoulders and wrists show, but do you really need your entire midriff exposed?  It's just really trashy to me.  Even if the sexy vs trashy thing wasn't an issue, I think it's visually really unappealing to have a band of white dress on the bust, a band of tan, then a white skirt again.  To me it looks like the dress doesn't match itself.  

Now if anyone reading this either owns or wants to own this gown, good for you, buy whatever dress makes you happy, whatever floats your boat. Just don't get offended, yes I hate your gown/dream gown but I'm sure there are going to be people out there who hate the gown I choose too.  That's just the way it works, and there's no need to get upset because someone has different taste.  

WinstonsGirl

I knew exactly which dress you were talking about before clicking on the link.  Doesn't it cost $11 000 or something similar??  I'm not a huge fan, but I prefer the sexy yet classy look myself

southernbelle0915

@HaileyDancingbear - holy shit that dress is ugly! It's neither flattering nor sexy. The only positive is that it looks like the bride really likes it. Whatever....

UO: I do not like corsets, see through fabric, super low necklines, hi-low hems, big slits, feathered or other similar style skirts, or any "make me a really sexy bride" elements to a wedding dress. I'm on board with looking beautiful on wedding day, but the lingerie elements should be saved for the honeymoon suite.

I like boring cereals - like Kashi Go Lean, Fiber One, and other "stick and twig" cereal varieties. 

krizzo17

Haha as far as #1 on that "sexy dresses" link, I never thought I would see the words "sexy" and "crumb catcher" in the same sentence. And I don't think that author knows what "décolletage" actually means.

NYCBruin

Ditto on the Gatsby theme weddings.  I just don't get it.  That book is not romantic.

Also, I HATE that book.  I think the writing is labored and I literally hate every single character.  They are all just awful people, including Nick, who is a huge hypocrite.  

The fact that there are so many Gatsby themed things that embrace the "glamour" aspects of the book just tell me that apparently none of the people who throw these parties actually read the book.

Chipmunk415

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I really hate it when people in their 20s complain about how old they are. STFU. 

 

Today is my birthday. I'm pretty "meh" about turning 27, though had a moment of feeling old when FI pretended to look for wrinkles. (already getting white hairs). Much older coworker asked if I'm "half way to 50 yet." Slightly annoying. At least I can gently tease my older sister on her birthday (in 4 days, hah!)

labro

NYCBruin said:

Ditto on the Gatsby theme weddings.  I just don't get it.  That book is not romantic.

Also, I HATE that book.  I think the writing is labored and I literally hate every single character.  They are all just awful people, including Nick, who is a huge hypocrite.  

The fact that there are so many Gatsby themed things that embrace the "glamour" aspects of the book just tell me that apparently none of the people who throw these parties actually read the book.

I felt like I was the only one of my friends this summer who DID NOT go to see that movie and didn't gush over the book. I hated that book when I read it in high school and I still hate it today. I agree with you on your character assessment...they're all horrible.

ohannabelle

WinstonsGirl said:

We put 20% down on this house, but we were able to as we both owned properties from before we met.  The equity from my first house was the reason I could put in my half.  My first house (a little duplex) only had 5% put down, and I paid CHMC on it too (mortgage insurance).  I couldn't have afforded 20%.  

My UO - I hate painted finger nails.  I think it looks cheap, though I don't mind the cool designs people are doing now over solid colours.  I also hated the black nail polish trend.  And while I know it's horribly uncool and out of style, I still think a nice french manicure looks clean and classic over colour.  I do prefer a slight goldish/pinkish tinge to soften the white though, instead of just clear.  Toes on the other hand, need colour

Amen to the fingernail thing. My nail polish rule is this: If it's the color of an injury, fungus, bruise, disease, or postmortem discoloration, don't do it. Yellow, gray, blue, black, green. It just grosses me out.

climbingsingle

Chipmunk415 said:

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I really hate it when people in their 20s complain about how old they are. STFU. 

 

Today is my birthday. I'm pretty "meh" about turning 27, though had a moment of feeling old when FI pretended to look for wrinkles. (already getting white hairs). Much older coworker asked if I'm "half way to 50 yet." Slightly annoying. At least I can gently tease my older sister on her birthday (in 4 days, hah!)

Eh. I've had grey hairs since I was 23. I wear them with pride. :-) 

Happy birthday!! Getting older is awesome. Seriously. My 30s have been the best years of my life so far. Much better than my 20s. 

climbingsingle

Another UO: I can't stand when people put backgrounds in their professional emails. Blue swirly sky, the notebook paper. Ugh. 

vt&dt

severmilli12 said:

my UO...

1. Pizza. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, I just don't care for it. I'll eat it once in a great while if I have no choice but I would really rather not, especially pepperoni.

2. When brides wear tiaras at their wedding. I'm sorry if someone reading this wore one, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but it looks ridiculous. You are not a princess, and you are not playing dress up. Stop with the tiaras.

This. 

doeydo

1. I dislike and don't understand the reason for having a renewal.  Even if it is a mile stone anniversary or they have been through something or one of them is/was ill.  When they made the original vows, it was supposed to be for the rest of their lives, no matter what they went through together.  Were those original vows somehow not good enough?