I first came across the term “class straddler” from fellow Hackbright alum and technologist Michelle Glauser who’s previously talked and written about it

and I was like :lightbulb:

woah. that’s me. and kind of gives me a frame or backdrop to understand the feels and experiences I’ve had since becoming a ~tech worker~

and I think can connect the dots to my general philosophy about Work, Jobs, Career, and Money.

….I have more thoughts here but need to marinate them a bit more.

this month I’m embarking on Budgetober through my fave finance guru Lillian Karabaic, author of A Cat’s Guide To Money which totally rocked my world and relationship with money. That book taught me that money is a tool and a budget is about your personal values so if you value art supplies or fancy boots than totally budget for that.

It was the missing link between the stark spreadsheets of perfection I’d seen from the personal finance world and the chaos of paycheck to paycheck I’d been mired in my whole life.

What most folks don’t tell you when learning about a new topic is that…..mostly you’re going to run into capital-O opinions more than verifiable facts.

This holds true for asking technologists what stack to choose, asking spinners if you should pre-draft your wool, and most folks how much you should budget for X category.

So I’m excited to take steps towards understanding my current money flows and start to modify them. The goal is to not have to rely on a 9-5 corporate tech job or knowledge work to thrive.

I guess having friends of all tax brackets and being raised by a single mom on a teachers’s salary and having tripled my salary in a few short years while I had a still forming mid-20s brain brought me revelations like:

• The money and financial system in the US is fucked
• Health care should absolutely not be tied to your employer
• The market is an all consuming beast that will commoditize everything until there’s nothing left of this planet and society
• Money more than religion imo is the opiate of the masses - the more money I brought in, the more convenience I sought
• Personal finance is e-m-o-t-i-o-n-a-l
• Tech workers are vastly overpaid (or is it that other jobs are vastly underpaid?)
• I can’t do this (working 9-5 for someone else) much longer

What the eff has @paigerduty been up to since the last post?

• Quit my jorb and started a very over due 2 week staycation

• Participated in Day of Service with the Rebuilding Center with old friends and new ones and totally won a battle with some thorny blackberry bushes

• Took on my fears of a large blank canvas and painted an abstract rainbow explosion on a peg board

  

• Took Carpentry Essentials class and used a CHOP SAW and a TABLE SAW and a NAIL GUN and soon I will #buildallthethings

• Spun, spun, spun and triple plied ~600 yards of alpaca completely filling up a jumbo bobbin

• Went to the dentist and found out my teeth aren’t super fucked! Yay!

• Returned library books I’ve had since summer

• Accidentally dyed the tips of my hair pumpkin spice orange

• Unfucked my personal site and am up and running on hosted Ghost www.paigerduty.com

• Finally met my therapist IRL!

• Started Fall PCC classes

  • Procreate for iPad

  • Mindfulness and Awareness from the amaze Joseph Britton

  • TRE Yoga (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises)

CAT TAX