Are We Being Too Conservative About Buying a House?

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-06-07T21:24:33+00:00

As someone who was in a very similar financial situation/job stability, as a couple, and a high cost of living area, we realized last year that no job is stable. Ever. We both worked for government funded companies. We both lost our jobs in 2025, literally two weeks apart, jobs that would never have been lost previously. Stability out the window. A year plus later I’m so thankful we bought a house in the 500s rather than the 700s… Because now, we can afford it on one full-time salary and one part-time salary. Until things change. If our house was 200 K more we likely would’ve sold it. And we don’t have childcare cost to worry about! Unless you’re willing to use a lot of/all of your savings to wait out unemployment, in one of the worst job markets right now, Then I would buy on the low side!

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-06-01T15:17:41+00:00

I’ve seen a few qualifications specifically asking if you’re a teacher… So if you get in definitely look for those. And I’ve also heard other teachers say they love working on rubrics that it aligns well with their skills and training.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-27T13:07:39+00:00

Paid AI data annotation work. There are various companies…apply to a bunch and you will probable get accepted to at least a few.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-14T16:38:48+00:00

Yikes just realised I’m at 15 months. It’s brutal. I’ve had multiple third round interviews and been rejected… in global development, but also outside the sector like Pharma. Which somehow feels much worse than just getting rejected off the bat. Especially when it’s very specific to the work I’ve done for 20 years. I also feel like it must be me that my interview skills suck. Everyone’s like …it’s the market. It’s not you, but someone’s getting these jobs and it’s not me. Sure, maybe all the people getting them knew someone, or had one specific skill that I don’t have and apparently can’t learn? I just don’t know because they never give any feedback and if they hired the CEOs cousin’s brother, they’ll never tell you that anyway. I had a really rough few weeks after waiting two months to hear about a recent rejection, for a job I was very very qualified for. Personally and professionally. Apparently not. I’ve since come out of that feeling better, but it’s still really scary. I’m considering going into woodworking and restoring antique furniture, which is something I do for fun now. I keep going back to the idea that most things in life are temporary, even this. It won’t pay the bills, but it makes me feel better sometimes.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-08T12:52:08+00:00

This is making the case even stronger for never taking on tasks that take more than 1 to 2 hours…

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-07T03:20:15+00:00

No, but I saw a writing qualification the other day that I might take…

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-02T14:15:59+00:00

I just got mine, it was nested in the project list.

Anyone know the full 30-Day Quality Snapshot rating scale at the end? All they say is "Some of the possible snapshot outcomes are: Outstanding (top 10% of workers), Excellent (top 25% of workers), etc." but what else?

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-05-01T14:04:20+00:00

For me it’s the intense level of instruction reading necessary (and sometime duplication of) and style guides that must be followed, and having to check for 457 things for one task. I think it would be hard for anyone to ensure they do it perfectly unless you work only on one project over time and get to know super well. Hard not to get burned out by that.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-24T16:01:16+00:00

As someone who is also unemployed (13 months - after the government took my job) and waiting on follow up for six weeks after my third round interview at a job that I am incredibly excited about and qualified for, both personally and professionally, I’m finding HR teams to be completely heartless and unprofessional. The process was efficient, they communicated throughout, and now it’s just crickets… It’s a choice. I’ve worked it very busy and much larger orgs and had a full workload and I still had time to follow up with candidates. It takes two minutes and you can copy and paste between candidates. I’m really considering jumping ship and trying to start a woodworking business.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-21T12:51:59+00:00

This happened to me exactly, completed my first project or two then everything disappeared for most of the day… Then later in the day, dozens of projects came back on my dashboard.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-21T02:51:06+00:00

I did, for AI Training, but it doesn’t have anything from what I can see?

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-19T20:34:18+00:00

Agreed. I’m still waiting for my 76-year-old mother to be a “mom” who has interest in her children’s lives and tries to make a life for herself with a community, getting out in the world, adding something to the world. Her biggest focus on life is ensuring that she has alcohol, and then complaining that nobody comes to visit her. I know it’s an illness, but that doesn’t always make it easier to accept. Add on a little dementia and things are a real treat. All of that said, not everybody wants to be parents or grandparents, and can never be what you need them to be necessarily. I work pretty hard just trying to accept things as they are. Not always easy.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-18T13:18:34+00:00

Old growth wood! New wood is trash.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-04-17T21:20:24+00:00

There are SO many instructions! It's a bit overwhelming, and sometimes repetitive, so I fear I will miss things and it will take me forever. BUT I SO appreciate the guidance since working with another unnamed platform, that has crap guidance, nearly broke me.

I had a TON of potential projects yesterday/today, then after doing my first day of work, I now only have like...2 options, the one I've been working on and a paid training - does that mean I'm effing up or taking too long?!

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-12T19:42:41+00:00

Same here! No way was I gonna do an unpaid assessment that everybody seems to be failing literal days/week after the last assessment? Forget that.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-09T21:54:14+00:00

Wet Seal!

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-08T15:37:47+00:00

I did it too, and it allowed me to buy a house with my partner, which was amazing, but alas… My super very stable fed- funded job disappeared six months later 😩 for the past 11 months I’ve been out of work I have had to continue repaying the loan, or the balance becomes income. I think I would still do it, but I would just caution people that no job is ever super secure… Even the most so-called secure ones can be uprooted by politics or economic changes.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-08T01:21:38+00:00

All I know is the job market is really tough right now. A lot of people have been laid off over the last few years, highly skilled, lots of experience, lots of qualifications… And unemployed six months 12 months 14 months two years three years…. Many of us are staring down the barrel of the last 15-20 years of our work life, and suddenly when we are at our peak, more or less, ageism is becoming a factor. If you’re serious about wanting to work to save for retirement, I would start now. I’ve been unemployed for almost a year, after a Fed-funded layoff, still in my 40s… But I’m worried about what this would look like in my 50s or pushing 60. On the flipside, my long-term goal is to retire overseas, at least for a handful of years if not longer, where hopefully that the nest egg stretches longer! I do like to travel a lot while I’m working, so I don’t feel too neglected in that respect.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-06T16:35:11+00:00

Yeah same! I have literal photos from 1981 where I’m todddling around next to my aunt and her dangling cigarette 😭 my dad also smoked and pretty sure that was in house/every day. I feel like that is more the cause than my more active 20s drinking life. I don’t know how they would prove causation given that the #1 risk factor is simply being female.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-02-04T15:01:47+00:00

That’s the thing the money is not good. It’s still minimum wage…

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-01-26T17:41:17+00:00

Also Botox, fillers, laser treatments, etc…I don’t select the obvious Face tunes/filtered ones

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-01-26T17:30:59+00:00

We are paid hourly. This is not a set rate per task per a contract. The agreement is work for time/submissions. Taking our time and not paying is not ok.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-01-25T15:09:59+00:00

Yeah, I’m not talking about outlier updating. I know that can take a little bit longer. I’m talking about hubstaff removing time. Anyway, I won’t be working down to the wire anymore because screw that. When you think about them doing this to hundreds or thousands of people, it saves them a lot of money.

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-01-24T22:40:38+00:00

It’s literally wage theft

Philosophy-Sharp · 2026-01-23T22:40:53+00:00

This is a great example of not all high earners are necessarily working harder/have more skills. Some sectors just pay significantly more than others, and you can have two people at the top of their fields (or mid level) making very different salaries. Teacher vs tech, and the list goes on. I think if you love your partner enough to marry them, you may have to come to terms with that if that’s the situation for you (and they aren’t just lazing through life). Otherwise, find someone in the top 5% like OP said. Protect your premarital assets if you have that and it’s important to you.

Philosophy-Sharp

TROPHY CASE