1 more while I'm in a talkative mood

At what point do I finally say 'ok, while this is important to me, it doesn't out-weigh other realities any more?' For a very long time, I've been extremely resistant to the idea of moving out of state, because 1. I don't want to start all over again, essentially alone (since Rik's not exactly going to go to munches & parties with me), 2. I don't want to lose the people that are important to me here, and 3. I'm less than fond of the politics, religion &/or weather in most of the good ol' U S of A. BUT there's the reality of life to consider. We are currently paying $3,317.00 per month for the pleasure of owning our home. Long & short, even though Rik & I combined make just short of $150K a year right now...we aren't exactly living high on the hog. Sure, all of our bills are paid, we have the things we need in life, and some of the things we want. What we don't have is savings (besides our 401(k)'s), for the future, or even for emergencies for that matter. Yeah, we have a 2 high limit ($34,600 total) credit cards...but sheesh, I'm already paying off $17,500 on 1 of them as it is. Right now, it's Vicki's rent that's paying for 2/3-3/4 of the $1,000 a month I pay on that credit card. Vicki will be moving soon (by July 1 at any rate), and I'm still not quite sure how I'm going to re-arrange our finances to keep paying that $1,000 a month to Citi Card. 2 years ago before the housing market went Ka-Blooey, our house was worth over $700,000. We paid $480,000 for it and put $100,000 down when we first bought it. 2 years ago, we could have sold our house and paid out right for a 3,500 sqft home on 10 acres in Bloomington, IN. No mortgage. Hell, I probably could have paid off the credit card & my car while I was at it. Imagine if you will having NO debts to pay off. Sometimes I just feel my priorities are really out of whack....I place my social &/or love life above our future, our financial security...above a lot of things. I don't think Rik really cares where we live (as long as it isn't too hot &/or too humid). I know he'd prefer that we had less money going out. I think he'd probably be thrilled if we moved closer to the Haunt industry (which is pretty much the mid-west). If the focus remains on me & what I want, I could agree to Portland...there's more than a few people that I know up there (Bay Area Transplants), so it's not like I'd really be starting completely over, I'd at least have a friend or 2 that I could hang with until I get myself 'established.' I've been thinking more & more about moving....2010 is probably the soonest we could do it. According to those that know, the housing market should be going back up around then. One of the things I thought about when I decided to stay at Metro 1 (work) was that it'd be a pain to leave there, start a new job and then leave that job in a year or 2 if we moved, and then start yet another job. So that was part of my decision to stay. I guess another thing I think about a lot too is just how selfish I am. I mean, as far as I can tell, pretty much the only reason we're still in the Bay Area is because I want to be. I know our families would be thrilled if we moved closer (especially my mom). But then again, I'm not exactly thrilled with that, I'm not exactly close to my family or Rik's. I've always said there's a very good reason why I live 2,500 miles from my mom. :) The facts are the facts though, and right now the fact I'm looking at is that we could be living so much better someplace else...and that it's me that is keeping up from doing that.