Coffee Cup Dreams

The manager at Kaldi’s is married.  He’s attractive enough, but that’s not why I scoped out his left hand.  The thing is, times are tough.  I’m sure he’s a hard worker as he seems to be here every time I pass through – always friendly, ever-helpful.  And I’m certain I’m a hard worker because so much of my time is spent preparing for, doing, or thinking about my role as a teacher. 

I want to know how much money he makes, if he has a financial planner or a family budget plan.  Is he a student as well as a barista manager? He can’t be more than 30 years old.  Does he have children, a wealthy benefactor, a fancy sports car payment, a gambling problem? I speculate about him and what kind of home he lives in, what he does on the weekends, if his wife is the primary breadwinner and whether he grapples with the choice to either buy the single cup of coffee or splurge for the bottomless mug. 

This morning I found out from Chris, our mortgage broker, that we’re back to square one.   Matt and I find ourselves in a strange pocket of the housing market - wanting to own a home and start investing in our future, but without a down payment.  We are in our mid or late twenties, we are educated with Masters degrees, and we both work much more than just 40 hours a week.  We also have large student loan payments and rent that continues to rise.  Do we have the incredibly bad luck of picking careers that are not going to provide, or are we in the same boat as everyone else?  Can the man who manages my coffee and cream make a large down payment when I cannot? 

While I drink the coffee he poured for me, I search the internet for loopholes in the policies of lenders and federal loan programs.  All of this makes me feel foolish.  I do not want to have to look for loopholes.  I want to be able to do this on my own, without assistance from family or the federal government.  That small bit of pride I have is only compounded by an overwhelming desire to call a little piece of the world mine. 

I want to mow grass.  I want to pay homeowner’s insurance.  I welcome leaky faucets!  I want to paint walls.  Linen closets.  To have my own linen closet would mean the world to me.  I will have a vegetable garden in the back yard and in front, I will grow a flowerbed with daffodils and petunias and bougainvillea every spring!  I WILL have these things, but maybe not for a very long time. 

After reworking my budget, I see only a few small places to cut  - two-dollar mugs of organic coffee at Kaldi’s for instance.   While I am more than willing to do this, I see it will take a very long time to save our 3.5%.   A little depressed, I wonder if Brent, the coffee expert has bougainvillea in his front yard.