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    Home and deranged

    From KKG to 713, I'm home for the holidays

    Caroline Gallay
    Dec 25, 2009 | 12:00 am
    • The Kappa Kappa Gamma house at the University of Missouri
    • Caroline Gallay

    It’s my first Christmas living back at home, and the weeks leading up to the big event have been decidedly different.

    It seems like I was just in Columbia, Mo., doing white Christmases at the Kappa House with four fully-decked out Christmas trees (and a solitary dreidel and menorah on a corner table for our far-outnumbered Jewish members).

    Donny, Dennis and Jim — our house staff — had the sprawling columned house decked out with white lights and garlands, and were constantly serving up plates of cookies to decorate with every color of icing and accoutrement imaginable.

    Dennis has been with Kappa for 35 years, and the transformation that house underwent every year at his hands after the Thanksgiving break was totally breathtaking. I don’t need my heater often in Houston, but when it acts up like it did at school, I wish I could hear him bellow “Man on the floor!” and come to my room to fix it.

    Christmastime at home is a little different. There is no staff to look after us four girls like there was to keep up with the 89 back at school. We have one tree and it’s a palm (my mom thinks it’s kitschy). Our lights just went up last week.

    I can guarantee that as I sit writing this column on Christmas Eve, my family is maniacally wrapping presents and distributing them under the canopy of artificial palm fronds littered with mismatched ornaments. We’re not experts in the kitchen, either. Our favorite dish to make is a peppermint ice cream cake, solely because it involves hammering peppermints (literally) into smithereens.

    My real house is messy and so is my family. Everyone is always yelling and interrupting each other and someone is always, always, in crisis. My mom has always said that a mother can only be as happy as her least happy child, and I think it's true. It's definitely true for her.

    She's got all three of us under her roof now for an unlikely period. One sister is on the brink of high school, one's on the brink of college, and one (me) tumbled back into their lives. I ended up back in my old room after a series of events that can only be called unfortunate.

    But this Christmas morning, under our festive palm tree amid the chaos, I know I'll feel lucky to be home.

    unspecified
    news/city-life

    Money Matters

    This is the income you need to live comfortably in Texas in 2026

    Amber Heckler
    Aug 14, 2026 | 10:30 am
    Money hundred dollar bills
    Getty Images
    Single U.S. adults need at least $80,000 to live comfortably; in Texas, the figure is much higher.

    A new national report looking at the income it takes to live comfortably in each of the 50 states has revealed Texans need to earn slightly less now than a year ago.

    SmartAsset analyzed what a single individual, as well as family of four, must earn to cover minimum basic needs adjusted using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. The resulting estimate represents the annual, pre-tax income needed to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

    A single, full-time worker needs to make $90,563 to live comfortably in the Lone Star State, the report found, which is down a meager 0.2 percent from last year ($90,771).

    Under the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, that means a single Texas earner would have $45,282 to spend on necessities like housing and utilities, $27,169 for discretionary spending, and $18,113 for emergencies or retirement savings.

    Texas ranked 34th nationally in SmartAsset's list of states with the highest income needed for a single adult to live "in sustainable comfort" in 2026. Only five other states — Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi — saw a decline in the income needed to live comfortably this year.

    For a family of four to live comfortably in Texas, income requirements change significantly, according to the findings. To support a two-child household, a family needs $203,424 in combined total household income to be considered financially stable. This is down slightly from 2025, when SmartAsset reported a family of four in needed $204,922 to live comfortably in Texas.

    This is a comfortable lifestyle for a family of four in Texas, according to the report:

    • $101,712 dedicated to necessities and living expenses
    • $61,027 dedicated to discretionary spending
    • $40,685 dedicated to emergencies, savings, or debt repaymen

    According to the report, a family of four now needs to make at least $200,000 to live comfortably in 40 U.S. states, a figure that is far out of reach for many American families.

    "As housing, grocery, transportation and other essential costs pressure household budgets, earning a six-figure salary no longer guarantees financial comfort in much of the U.S.," the report said. "A single adult now needs at least $80,000 a year to live comfortably in every state, while the threshold exceeds $100,000 in nearly half of states. For a family of four, the income needed to live comfortably is as much as $329,000."

    Still, earning the minimum income to live comfortably in Texas doesn't guarantee financial stability in the Lone Star State's major cities. Earlier this year, SmartAsset determined single residents in Houston need to make about $90,000 to qualify as financially stable, while families of four need around $205,000.

    texassmartassetreportssalariesincomefinance
    news/city-life

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