I'm sorry about your anxiety. We're also worrying about keeping our house though the cost of living is much cheaper here than LA. My husband is from California though. He basically grew up in Long Beach (Lakewood, CA). His dad & sister still live out there. We used to visit every summer, but things got awkward with his sister, so we're not this summer. My father-in-law has a house built the 1970s, well maintained, maybe 1400 sq. ft. and it is worth quite a lot of money, at one point up to half million dollars, but I think it's come down some since. It is not a fancy house or anything. It's nice, but not what you'd expect for so much money.

I know about the wildfires. A lot of my husband's friends from growing up live more in the mountains, farther from LA so they could afford to buy a house. We actually eloped and got married in the San Bernadino Mountains at Pinerose cabins. I want to go back and stay for awhile; we last went maybe 6 years ago (coming up on our 14th wedding anniversary), and i have the urgency to go back before the place burns down.

Change is coming up for us too. Either us leaving the house or me get a part-time or full job. I emailed my brother-in-law's aunt who is high up in one of the local school districts (the largest near us without having to go into Houston proper), and I think she is going to see if she can do something for me as I told her we were looking at losing our house. I also told her I need something low stress because of my recent ulcer and parenting a daughter with a ton of sensory issues (didn't mention the bipolar). Hopefully, she will come through for me. An extra $25,000 a year isn't a lot, but it would mean keeping our house versus losing it. So we'll see. I haven't worked since I was in grad school. Every time I've had a job, I've had to resign because of the bipolar nearly getting me in the hospital, though those were higher paying higher stress jobs.

I'm nervous about the future as well.