Alyssa and John 7: Laura Ingalls, Something, Something...

[SassyPants]

36 minutes ago, Mama Mia said:

Same area, and my late 30’s, long time educator daughter and son-in-law can’t afford a basic condo in their area - the lowest priced, most basic ones are 650k plus, and condo fees on top of it. They make $150 k a year between them.  My other kids in the area aren’t even looking. Conversely I have another kid who is early 30’s, SAHM, husband works an average job, they bought a nice 3 bedroom suburban home in what some consider a high cost area - but it was only $350k. 

My 30 YO, well employed, zero debt son has just about given up. I suggested a tiny home or a relo out of state. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, SassyPants said:

Oh, and no matter what fundie parents say about why they homeschool, I think the #1 reason is because they’d never be able to manage all that comes with sending your child to school: having to be on time, neat and clean, with required materials and a lunch, activities associated, homework done...Could Michelle or Kelly ever have managed the schedules of 19 children? Get real.

As an example, M is for Mama who has 10 kids and homeschools +1 day COOP school, always puts on her busy to do Monday list, getting the kids ready for and out the door to school. I take it that having to get them somewhere first thing in the morning is a major PITA for her.

I totally agree. So many fundie moms act like it’s more work to homeschool than send their children to school. How many times have the Duggars had their kids sleep in their clothes because they had to leave early the next morning? I bet the Duggars could never manage public school with all their children. They would be the kids that were late for school every single morning. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by JermajestyDuggar

[GreenBeans]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

My 30 YO, well employed, zero debt son has just about given up. I suggested a tiny home or a relo out of state. 

We bought an apartment (living room, two bedrooms, one bath) at 600,000 € (plus 60,000€ closing/ancillary costs), because that’s what the market is like here and we didn’t want to move too far outside of the city (where that money might have bought us a small house in need of renovations). We wouldn’t have been able to afford a bigger apartment in the city, despite working in well-paid jobs and having saved up a fair bit of money for the down payment.

There is no way someone like Alyssa and John would be buying a house here, they’d be renting and struggling with that financially (unless they had parents covering for them). 

[artdecades]

She has a one month old. And three other children. What are they doing when she’s packing and working?

[JermajestyDuggar]

31 minutes ago, artdecades said:

She has a one month old. And three other children. What are they doing when she’s packing and working?

I have no idea who would watch them this much. Part of me hopes she’s paying an actual babysitter but I know that can’t be true. So it must be a Webster family member. 

[SorenaJ]

6 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I totally agree. So many fundie moms act like it’s more work to homeschool than send their children to school. How many times have the Duggars had their kids sleep in their clothes because they had to leave early the next morning? I bet the Duggars could never manage public school with all their children. They would be the kids that were late for school every single morning. 

The Radford family have 21 living children, and they send all their children to state school. I'm sure the older children help out a lot, but they manage. I'm also sure the Radfords have more work ethics than the Duggars.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

If Alyssa has an adult babysitting for her, I won't complain especially since moving is both time-consuming and a lot of work. 

[byzant]

@PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea Mortage fixed at 1.2 percent for two year's 

 

Three bed in very naice village needs some work. Large garden _£165000.  I live in a rural area considered hcol( very posh) but honestly for the same money in nice area of nearest city would have struggled to get a 1 bed flat. 

 

Uk here and professional job i was 32 when i bought and was the last of my friends to do so. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by byzant

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

On 3/9/2021 at 6:49 PM, irish_dancing_canadian said:

I’m originally from Southern Ontario but could never live there again. My entire family is still there and I hear lots of complaints about housing costs and well... Doug Ford ? If I were to move back to Canada I think I’d move to Québec but not entirely sure. In Germany most people rent until they die and anyone I know that owns a house, inherited it (a couple exceptions apply). 

To be fair, Alyssa is taking advantage of the “Youtuber vlogger mommy” trend and it is a creative enough way to earn some income. Plus I can’t blame her for doing all those sponsorships. Another “easier” way to earn money. It’s just what people do these days.

I wish she would put her daughters in a private Christian school. Alyssa is not capable of properly homeschooling.

It is true. S. Ontario culture is 90% bitching about realty and Ford these days. Good times.

I think we're approaching European housing prices but sadly, people think owning is a priority or sign of middle class success and there's very little subsidized housing.

[irish_dancing_canadian]

8 hours ago, SorenaJ said:

The Radford family have 21 living children, and they send all their children to state school. I'm sure the older children help out a lot, but they manage. I'm also sure the Radfords have more work ethics than the Duggars.

The Radford family is the only mega family I actually like. Kids all seem happy enough and well fed. The parents own and manage a business right? 

[SorenaJ]

22 minutes ago, irish_dancing_canadian said:

The Radford family is the only mega family I actually like. Kids all seem happy enough and well fed. The parents own and manage a business right? 

Yes, the family owns a pie shop. Kids seem fairly happy. Must be a bit of a logistical nightmare with after school activities, play dates, parent teacher conferences, but they have got a lot of older kids at home, I imagine they help out.

In case people don't know, the Radford family are not fundies at all (just addicted to babies), however they might be religious, on their Facebook there is a picture with them from a christening/blessing/thanksgiving baby service inside a church. This could be the christening of a grandchild, I don't know, so it could just be that "branch" that belong to a Christian church, but they might be religious, based off that photo. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m not a huge fan of the Radfords but I think they do a better job parenting their large brood compared to the Duggars and Bateses. 

[dawn9476]

A few days ago when she said that she was packing in one of her stories, she said all the kids with her MIL. I think the day before when she just start packing, I think she just had Maci. The other three were with her MIL.

It looks like John got more help. Are those his brothers in Alyssa's latest IG stories? They help put in the flooring on the ground floor.

Edited March 11, 2021 by dawn9476

[JermajestyDuggar]

Just now, dawn9476 said:

A few days ago when she said that she was about to start packing in one of her stories, she said the kids with her MIL.

It looks like John got more help. Are those his brothers in Alyssa's latest IG stories? It looks like they put in in the flooring on the ground floor.

I think they are Alyssa’s brothers. Trace is definitely there. 
 

I really hate all the gray. Gray floors, gray walls, white trim. Blahhhhh. It’s cold as hell. Warm it up a bit! If she had chosen a warmer color on her flooring then it wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t have anything against the color gray. I just hate houses that are ALL GRAY. It’s so cold and sterile. 

[clueliss]

Trace and the middle boys are there (Jackson, Warden, Isaiah)

[OHFL2009]

15 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think they are Alyssa’s brothers. Trace is definitely there. 
 

I really hate all the gray. Gray floors, gray walls, white trim. Blahhhhh. It’s cold as hell. Warm it up a bit! If she had chosen a warmer color on her flooring then it wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t have anything against the color gray. I just hate houses that are ALL GRAY. It’s so cold and sterile. 

I actually really like the wall color she chose. It's a warmer grey with some tan/beige undertones and it's very similar to the color on my walls. I dislike houses that are all cool greys, but the warm greys are my favorite. We did go with a brown wood-look floor tile, even though I loved the grey, because I feel like it's one of those trends that in 15 years you'll be able to walk into a house and know it was built between 2018-2022ish because it has grey floor tile. Almost all of the new builds going up in our neighborhood right now have grey tile. 

[SassyPants]

Also, if the painting is all done, which I think she mentioned it is, what is Alyssa doing at the house? Flooring, painting, general construction and dust is not an optimum environment for a newborn, and with the painting done, wouldn’t Alyssa be more useful at her current home? Packing and caring for all her kids seem like a better spend of her time, at this point.  ETA- and the construction noise can’t be good for that baby!

Edited March 12, 2021 by SassyPants

[dawn9476]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

Also, if the painting is all done, which I think she mentioned it is, what is Alyssa doing at the house? Flooring, painting, general construction and dust is not an optimum environment for a newborn, and with the painting done, wouldn’t Alyssa be more useful at her current home? Packing and caring for all her kids seem like a better spend of her time, at this point.  ETA- and the construction noise can’t be good for that baby!

In the stories from today, she makes no reference of the kids being there so I am going to assume that they were with her MIL again.  Did any one of the Bates girls come with the boys? Maybe they are watching the kids at the old house.

Edited March 12, 2021 by dawn9476

[freethemall]

23 hours ago, artdecades said:

She has a one month old. And three other children. What are they doing when she’s packing and working?

In one packing video story she has the youngest 2 and says "the girls are in the other room doing school" meaning passively watching videos. 

[Jackie3]

6 hours ago, OHFL2009 said:

I actually really like the wall color she chose. It's a warmer grey with some tan/beige undertones and it's very similar to the color on my walls. I dislike houses that are all cool greys, but the warm greys are my favorite. We did go with a brown wood-look floor tile, even though I loved the grey, because I feel like it's one of those trends that in 15 years you'll be able to walk into a house and know it was built between 2018-2022ish because it has grey floor tile. Almost all of the new builds going up in our neighborhood right now have grey tile. 

It's so funny how we assume SHE chose the colors. Like John wasn't interested or had no opinion. I wonder if that's the case.

[GreenBeans]

8 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think they are Alyssa’s brothers. Trace is definitely there. 
 

I really hate all the gray. Gray floors, gray walls, white trim. Blahhhhh. It’s cold as hell. Warm it up a bit! If she had chosen a warmer color on her flooring then it wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t have anything against the color gray. I just hate houses that are ALL GRAY. It’s so cold and sterile. 

She could still add colorful decor, rugs, curtains, furniture... But I agree, especially grey/white floors always feel so cold to me. We have wooden floors at our current rented apartment, and also at the one we bought, and they have a much warmer, more cozy feel to them. 

[Melissa1977]

I actually like gray, but everybody has been decorating in gray shades in the last decade, so I wonder if it will be soon outdated. 

I'm probably moving soon and I'm not sure if to continue my current white/gray decor (yeah, I'm as dull as Josie Bates haha), or to try a change, maybe more wood, printed curtains etc. What do you think?

[The butcher's wife]

Count me in among those fascinated by real estate prices. Our area's COL is fairly high, though we haven't quite reached Southern Ontario prices and obviously can't compare to cities like London, New York etc. We live in a 92 sqm (990 sqft) / 77 sqm (828 sqft) (corrected for the space lost by the sloping ceiling) apartment that we rent from my MIL. We have a big kitchen/dining/living room area, a fairly small bedroom (which I don't mind, it's for sleeping) and a tiny second bedroom that is currently our "office". I call it the chaos room; it's stuffed with everything that doesn't have a place anywhere else. SO keeps promising to build shelves/closets to make it more usable but I'm still waiting on closets in our actual bedroom so I'm not holding my breath (we've lived here 3,5 years; I would have bought closets years ago but contrary to my username, he's actually a furniture builder and insists on building most things himself). MIL paid about 350.000 € when she bought it 5 years ago, which was considered a fairly high price at the time, even though it was a new build. Now it would easily go for 500.000, and noone would bat an eye. And we live in a small town (population under 10.000) that doesn't have much to offer apart from grocery stores. The next bigger town is only 5 kms away but traffic at rush hour is horrible; by car it could easily take you 30 to 45 minutes some days which is part of the reason I ride my bike whenever I can. The thing that's so strange to me is that the rents aren't actually high enough to buy apartments for investment purposes at the prices they are being offered at right now. That said there barely are any. Let alone houses. In the local paper you can see the same families/couples looking to buy a house or bigger apartment for months on end, and there are very few being sold at all, none at reasonable prices, and most very far out in tiny villages and not in good repair. Buying land to build a family home is also nearly impossible (price and availability). I'll be very interested to see how the market changes over the next few years, and if/when this bubble will burst.

[IsmeWeatherwax]

@Melissa1977 I changed up my living room recently, I went with white for the walls, curtains, lamps, radiator cover, dark wood frames on my photo wall, stained my side board dark wood and then went nuts on the other bits!

I got an amazing multi coloured rug off amazon, its fair trade made in India by women and girls and they use the scraps from the clothing industry, also different coloured cushions. I love it now! I read once that your rooms should be done in a 60/30/10. 60% main colour, 30% accent colour and 10% striking colour. The only grey I have is the cat tree!

[treehugger]

I am pretty interested in design, architecture and trends.  Grey is on the way out.  It had its ten year run, like the Tuscan phase before it, and is now looking a little dated.  White and black are the new trend.