A Nice Problem to Have

Yes, Mommy's okay. It's just that cleaning
for the cleaning people is so STRESSFUL!

My blogbuddy Laura over at Stroller Parking Only recently posted about her spendy monthly grocery bill.  I prided her on actually doing the math.  Anyone who did that for our family would ask if I was secretly feeding a team of longshoremen, a goat and Charles Barkley. 

With no intent to minimize or mock her concerns, I realized that we're lucky (not smart, somewhat lazy, but still lucky) to be able to spend that kind of money on food.  Of course, a grocery bill constituting high percentage of income is a problem, but in this economy there are many people for whom it is not a problem.

It’s not a problem because it's simply not an option.

The ability to overspend on groceries is a high class problem. With the current mass affluent demographic, it is even a middle class problem. 

It's like the thin person who complains, "I often forget to eat!" In the abstract, a nice problem to have.

Here are some other situations that fall into that high class problem category.  Some I’ve merely overheard.  Some I’ve commiserated about with others.  And some I’m too ashamed to say aloud.

That's why I have this blog right?

With the Cleaning People:

• The cleaning people are coming tomorrow and I have no time to straighten up for them.  Now not only will they do a slackluster job, thinking we live like pigs, but with all the clutter, they won’t be able to clean efficiently.  I am so stressed!!!

• Someone’s home sick and it’s too cold/hot/wet to be outside. Now we have to scurry from room to room to stay out of the cleaning people’s way.  Will the struggles never end?!

• Oh crap!  I forgot to replace the supplies! Now, I have to run out and buy baking soda and vinegar/Method products/50 lemons and a case of baking soda so they can do a green clean.  Call an ambulance, I might have a stroke. 

Groceries:

• How is it that I spent over $200 in groceries last week, and have nothing to make a meal out of, but enough snacks for a roomful of potheads? 

• I just spent a small fortune supporting small, local farms and their fantastic organically grown produce at my neighborhood farmers market. But now all the food is as spoiled as the average Upper East Side tween. Oh, well.  But they have the BEST arugula!!!!

• I really should use coupons, but who has the time to do all that searching and clipping?  And then they’re never in my wallet when I need them. Shouldn't I be able to tattoo them on?

Clothing:

• I found such great clothes for the person I want to be this season! Unfortunately, the person I am has beaten the s--t out of the person I want to be and left her for dead.  Well, at least my new Container Store closet is well dressed!

• I thought I could wear these classic clothes forever, if I altered them/bought the perfect shoes, accessories, etc… Can I sell them on consignment?  Surely someone wants an ill-fitting suit from 2008!

Date Night:

• Finally, we made it to that trendy, spendy restaurant everyone's talking about.  But we got into an I-wanna-throw-my-wine-right-in-your-face fight during appetizers, and didn’t talk the rest of the meal.  Might as well have walked out of the house, thrown $150 in the sewer and gone to our respective computers.  Jeez.

• All that expensive food ejected into the porcelain throne… At least I/he won’t gain weight from all that rich food.

The Kids:

• We are paying practically two more mortgage payments for preschool/private school.  But it is so worth it!

• They are taking ballet/violin/soccer/Arabic/Tae Kwon Do/gymnastics/cooking and an HVAC course.  It is a fortune, and we are so BUSY, but it is so worth it.

People who have said these things, as stressed as they may have been, in the grand scheme of things, are pretty lucky (unless they are doing this all on credit).  They might have felt a little guilty for letting such thoughts cross their mind.  Or they might have felt even a tad bit proud, like our I-forgot-to-eat-friend.

What are your thoughts on these high class/middle class problems?  Are you guilty of feeling plagued by any such issues?  Or do you remind these petulant complainers that some people don’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of, and to shut the %$#& up?