Yes, it is a luxury, and why not? Why should Californians be expected to abide by extreme drought standards in wet years when the reduction in use will have virtually no impact on the overall situation? Build more water storage. Build desalination plants for San Francisco and LA. Improve infrastructure. Do things that will actually help. Me reducing my flushes and showers (and then charging me $$$ for the privilege) isn't going to fix things. The water diet is just a money grab disguised as environmental virtue signalling.

I doubt the intention is to monitor daily use (although you never know...), but there is a way to track it. We have smart meters for our water. Just a few days ago I discovered a a water app for my phone that shows me daily, weekly, and monthly usage info., so the powers that be could definitely monitor it if they wanted to. The trick will be differentiating between indoor use (55 gallons a day) and outdoor use (TBD). I don't know how they could differentiate between indoor / outdoor water use, so they'll probably just tack on x number of gallons to the 55/day and folks can actually use that amount however they want. The really nerve-wracking part for me is that it sounds like each water district will determine how much to charge residents. Last time we had a rate increase to cover the costs of improving infrastructure, our water rates doubled. I predict they'll double again (so that would be roughly $100/mo just for water) with penalties applied to households who use to much. These rate increases (just like the gas tax, just like the increased car registration fees, just like almost everything else) will hurt poor and lower-middle income families the most. p.s. we run the dishwasher twice a day for our family of 4. We are home for almost all meals, and my teens usually cook themselves hot breakfasts and lunches, so... yeah. Two loads a day. Breakfast/luch and dinner. We're not unskilled or wasteful. It's unkind to make that assumption.

Well, y'all do have the Giants and one of the loveliest ballparks in the MLB, so there's that ?

Yup. It's sad, really. The cost of rent is astronomical and there is so much homelessness, drug addition, mental illness. So many hurting people. Some areas of town literally smell like s---t. And... I'm going to stop now before I go deep into politics. Yes, San Francisco is beautiful and broken. We'll stick to our routine of going straight to the ballpark and leaving.

Now to figure out how to find a job in Idaho or Arizona. I think those are our two top picks. Possibly Texas. I'm open to job hunting suggestions. I've never done (or helped with) an out-of-state job search. Heck, I've never even sold a house. We've lived in this house for 18 - almost our entire marriage. Thinking through the practicalities of our escape is daunting. Stuff's getting real.

? Fair point. I know this information, and looked to google to find someone to explain it better than I could. My POINT is that a yard isn't inherently "wasteful." It does have a good use.

Lawns have a cooling effect, so in hot regions like where I am, it's definitely not a waste. (Benefits of Lawns) We're under watering restrictions, which we comply with, but I'm happy to use some water to keep our grass and trees healthy.

Those signs, right?! Like seriously, that's nothing to be proud of y'all! Our county is 50% on Medi-Cal. (We're just down the road from you) The implied threat of the signs is "Vote for the majority party or you'll lose your health coverage." Which isn't true but, there's nothing to be done about that nonsense. So... yeah. Exactly what you said. Create a problem for lower income families (in this case water usage), create a program to "solve" the problem (we're from the government and we're here to help!), and you've theoretically increased the number of people who feel like if they don't vote for the majority party they'll be lost and unable to function. And the cycle continues.

Thoughts about the water issue: poor and middle income families are the ones who will be affected. Those with higher incomes might try if they want, but have the extra income to deal with financial penalties. As usual. Here's a water calculator that is interesting. For us, could we do it with our indoor 6,600 gallons a month ration? According to the calculator... barely. If we make no mistakes. And since the calculator is just an estimate, I can assume that we'll go a bit over just doing normal daily things. I do wonder if they base some of their calculations like number of toilet flushes and hand washing on families who are out of the house 8 hours a day. Our current metered limit is over 30,000 gallons a month and we never get close to that. The "to be determined" outdoor limits will be interesting. I'm not optimistic, because ... California. It feels like death by a thousand paper cuts. This water thing is just the most recent in a long line of taxes and regulations to come down the pike. The whole thing about our government wasting water to preserve a non-indigenous fish is absolutely symbolic of our legislators' screwed up priorities. I'm broken. I'm tired. I want out.

Haha... Yes. I would... oh my gosh this is hard to say... deep breath... just spit it out... I-would-move-to-Fresno. Not my first choice, obviously, but still a lot closer to my family than AZ or ID. It won't pass, though. I am personally pro-State of Jefferson.

(this discussion is getting really off track) In a red state we would have added them to the health sharing ministry I'm using. (Side note: I also wish the government would allow creation of more health sharing plans so more families can take advantage of this approach. HSMs are super affordable and flexible. I love mine ❤️ ) Our Medi-Cal experience has been mediocre with very limited choices for PCPs (literally 2 doctors offices in a town of almost 100,000 people) and the only specialists who accept it are an hour away, even though we have the appropriate type of specialist in town. Anyway, I used to be all for single payer, now I'm all for increasing options. Bolded: common ground. That makes me happy ?

Well, we're almost there. I'm sure you've seen those signs along the freeway... "50% of _______ County is on Medi-Cal." Dude. That's seriously nothing to be proud of. My kids are on Medi-Cal. It's better than nothing. So, I mean, yeah, there's that. I actually support the idea of people, regardless of income, being allowed to buy into Medi-Cal on a sliding scale. But true single payer? Oh.heck.no. I can barely afford California status quo. Don't make it worse.

Single payer would mean higher taxes piled on already high taxes which would mean it would make it even more difficult to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. When does it end? Nothing is free. Single payer healthcare is unnecessary for the poorest families (medi-cal, sliding scale clinics, etc.) and the richest families (because they're more able to afford it) but it's an absolute kick in the groin to middle-income working families.

I'm so-so on Cal3. The boundary lines don't work for me, unless we move to Fresno. Still closer to family than AZ/ID/wherever, so there is that... Basically, the SF bay area retains control of conservative (but less populous) No. California. That's not going to go over well. I seriously wouldn't mind making the greater Bay Area it's own state. Divide the remaining state into North and South at the Merced or Stanislaus county/Fresno county lines. There. Fixed it! ? It's all dreaming anyway.

Recently there was talk of Cal3, but I'm not sure what happened with that. Will it make the November ballot? Also, there's the State of Jefferson movement, which has been slowly gaining traction over many years.

Idaho is definitely on our radar. I completely forgot that we have friends (CA transplants) that moved to the Twin Falls area. I definitely wouldn't move to Twin Falls because when we visited my hay fever went berserk, but higher elevations might be okay. It's certainly beautiful.

It's not escaping "you." It's escaping the awfulness that is our state government.

No the government is to be criticized for not acknowledging that, since drought years are a normal part of our climate we need to be building appropriate water storage when the snow/rain does come. If the government had already been taking all reasonable measures and still honestly felt like we were going to run out of water without strict measures, I would be less angry. But they haven't, and so I am.

Yes, it's about the government not the people. Nearly all of my family is here. Many, many friends. Me. ? I don't hate Californians. I do hate our state government. I feel broken. I just want out. And yes, the water is kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. They've mismanaged our water resources, refused to build appropriate water storage to manage the number of people that live here, and then penalize residents - in many cases, the same people who have been shouting for years for them to build more water storage. Drought is nothing new. It's a natural part of our climate. Plan accordingly.

Yup, that's an actual thing. I've heard of people in SoCal driving to Arizona to rent UHauls for long distance moves.

Wyoming sounds beautiful. I'll message you where I am. Really though, the population centers (yeah, I'm glaring at the bay area right now) have so much influence that there's no escaping it. Even in the Cal3 plan, based on location I'd be stuck with the bay area, so there'd be no improvement. Actually, it would be worse, because the bay's influence would be even more concentrated. I propose making the SF Bay Area it's own state. That would fix things nicely. I could deal with crossing state lines to see my Giants play.

Doesn't every state have sales tax? The Phoenix tax rate is very close to what we pay where I live.

I'm sad. I don't actually want to leave California, but leftist BS out of Sacramento and the Bay Area dealing with the increasing political garbage flowing from the political toilet that is our state government is becoming unbearable. (ETA: I want to escape our terrible state government not specifically Californians.) We're finally to the point of seriously considering pulling up stakes and moving to a free state. Our home state is so broken and corrupt, I just don't know what else we can do to fix it. Assuming DH can find a job pretty much anywhere, our only other requirements are that it be a place with low humidity, low or moderate cost of living and that it be mostly politically conservative. I want Midwest, DH wants Arizona. I'm also up for Texas (not Austin or Houston, a small town somewhere). Where else would work? It doesn't have to be desert, but the humidity thing is actually important, because DH has breathing issues. I've never done a very cold, snowy winter, but I assume we'd adapt okay. I'm serious, y'all. Hit me with your suggestions.

I've been doing a bit more digging and I think if you order through a Homeworks by Precept consultant you get a 10% discount year-round and possibly a larger discount at convention.

10% off until the 14th. I really wish we weren't so broke this month, because we're switching to BJU Pre-Algebra online in the fall and a $30 discount is nothing to sneeze at!