30 Things 30 Year Old's Worry About

The worries in this stage of my life are very different than they were 10 years ago. When I was 20 I was wondering if I was going to get married, was I going to have kids, and if so how many, how was I going to find a job, what if I hated my job? New decade, new problems, and here are a few of them and my thoughts about them.

1. Health Insurance- for most 20 somethings this isn't even a blip on the radar.  Most of us didn't even know what a deductible was much less a PPO vs. HMO and so on. Now we compare premiums, in network vs out of network cost, how to get a discount on pregnancy and delivery costs, and the cheapest way to get your monthly prescriptions.
2. Money- this is no longer a commodity to be used on the cute new sweater we saw at the mall or all going to McDonald's, this is now for retirement, or groceries, or, I can't even type it without laughing and crying, kids college, at least, in my dreams, its kids college. Which introduces my next one...
3. Our Kids Education- a decade ago we weren't even out of school and now we are picking out preschools, kindergartens, and school districts with such care so that, what... our kids can get into, and afford, due to their huge scholarships, the best colleges. Where they will most likely major in watching paint dry or basket weaving.
4/5/6. Personal Health, Getting Enough Sleep, and Weight- Late nights or even all nighters, drinking soda, eating out, eating after 10 pm, *gasp*, even. On occasion we would go for a jog or work out and it wouldn't even phase our systems. We lived on the third floor, moved furniture that was triple our weight alone, and never even considered how many calories was in a frappucchino.
7. 401K vs. IRA vs. ESA or maybe even a 403b- The fact that we even might know what these things are speaks for its self.
8. How Our Furniture Looks- Ok, this is probably a woman thing but it is legitimate. We seem to feel that if we have been on our own this long we should have acquired something other than the 4x-hand-me-down-rescued-from-the dumpster couch that we had in college. And frankly I think we have a point even if what we replace it with is nice garage sale furniture, we just hope that you don't notice the pizza stain when you come to visit.
9. The Price of Milk- Am I the only one who got super excited when it got down to 99¢.
10. Who We Forgot to Invite to the Four Year Old's B-day Party- this is the big league guys. You form life long alliances here in preschool.
11. How Comfortable Our Clothes Are- I guess this isn't new but it isn't the same kind comfort now as it was a decade ago. Comfort and cute is a thing of the 20s I now go for comfort and hides snot, drool, sweat, dirt and food particles.
12. How Many Lights Were Left On in the House- because those electric bills don't pay themselves and money doesn't grow on trees... yes, those sayings now go through my head... secretly I'm pushing 50.
13. The Yard- It must be mowed, watered, edged, and weeded. Didn't even realize you could do that much to a yard 10 years ago.
14. Who We Spend Holidays With- We have a schedule, rotating between his family and mine and heaven forbid something strange come up and we miss one. Who knew it was so complicated.
15. Anti-aging Creams, Washes, and Elixirs- Those little crows feet are only going to get worse.
16. Fire Safes- Now I have things that I can't replace or don't want to go through the government nightmare to replace.
17. Life Insurance- I don't think that I even knew that this stuff existed until after I got married.
18. How Fender-Benders Affect Our Insurance Rates- This causes full time panic in the over 30 crowd. Seriously... panic.
19. Sunscreen- As a child and a teenager I never even thought about this. I didn't really burn so there was no incentive there. Now I am married to a man who sunburns inside on a sunny day so for his sake and my kids sake I carry the stuff with me everywhere.
20. Savings- How much is enough? How long should it take to save it up? Where should you keep it? A couple of years ago I didn't have money to even think about this issue.
21. The Efficiency of My Appliances- I just moved from a 6 SEER to a 15 SEER air conditioner. How excited am I!
22. ESCROW- it is not a board game, though I think that would have been a great name for one.
23. Property Taxes- one mistake and you could be in over your head before you can think. They really want their money.
24. What "Natural Flavorings" really are- don't ask, just don't ask.
25. How someone else's labor went- it seems like it was once just, hey, you had a baby. Cool! And now it's how many hours of labor, were there complications, did you try the Bradley method or Lamaze, how long before you got an epidural. We know too much.
26. Income Taxes with Texas being one of those lovely states where there is no state income tax it took me several years to realize how messy that can make things. I get nervous every year just doing our simple taxes. And I'm afraid it will only get worse.
27. The ratings on movies- mostly because we have kids. Once I turned 18 I saw whatever I wanted and paid not attention to what it was rated. Now I pour over not only rating but review websites to explain the ratings because not all PG is five year old appropriate.
28. Heart burn- this is serious stuff, so don't eat too spicy, don't eat too late, and carry tums in your back pocket.
29. The features on baby monitors- they are discussed as seriously as the new apple upgrade.
30. The gas mileage on our cars- its true we discuss this in the same way we talk about what are children are doing.
"Yep, old blue is down to 20 mpg, I'm gonna have to take her in to see whats wrong."
"On our last trip my little honda got 32 mpg!"
"This new mini-van I saw gets 27 mpg, in town!"