A new home!
(Not a house. But as I think I mentioned earlier, that wasn't in the offering)
After looking around, we found a place about halfway between where we live now and where we were originally looking for just $100 over what we are currently paying in mortgage + condo fees (+ tax + PMI) (for twice the space! Literally! So we can cut the storage space out entirely. That accounts for about $50 of it.)
Then I've been reading all these Larry Burkett and Motley Fool books on budgeting, so I sat down to budget given the new reality of our life -- I got a job so I'm making more money than we originally budgeted for. Plus this extra rent. (and taking out the storage units we will no longer be needing.) PLUS the no more credit card payments AT ALL. (BTW, Common Room children. Don't do like I did. When you get credit card, never ever let yourself put anything on them that will disappear before the debt did! The only reason I'd use credit cards at all is to build up credit for when you want to buy a house or, perhaps, a (used) car. In fact, I heartily recommend going to a Dave Ramsey sponsored money seminar. My husband and I were given tuition to one within 6 weeks of our wedding -- and it is directly responsible for us being out of debt now. We finally got serious about paying off the debt.)
And I have to wonder -- we were working with a budget before (but not paying that much attention to it, I must admit. Though we never ran out of money and WERE managing to put it into savings, etc. Thus this effort to do a double-entry bookkeeping system in hopes of making it work better.) And somehow I can't figure out how we were making it before as it seems we're spending more money on paper than we make! (And certainly more than the his-income-only that I would love to be budgetting on. As soon as he gets a 40-hr-a-week job... Please pray.)
I'm sure glad we didn't take one of the places that would have been $1200/mo though! (Even if it WAS just down the street from my best friend :( ) If we're having problems making ends meet at this level, that would have been completely unworkable!
I find myself thinking "I want curtains" "I want a comfortable chair to read" etc... but then again, we are signing a lease for only 6 months because we don't know how long we're going to be here! So it doesn' really make sense to buy a bunch of stuff (as well as the lack of money to pay for it without raiding savings or something)
The table is necessary though. I saw something that would work at Goodwill for $30. and I need a place for 4 people to sit around and eat together to serve Christmas dinner when my parents come up (Plus for other entertaining afterward. I have a space big enough, I want to invite people from church, etc over on occasion!)
After looking around, we found a place about halfway between where we live now and where we were originally looking for just $100 over what we are currently paying in mortgage + condo fees (+ tax + PMI) (for twice the space! Literally! So we can cut the storage space out entirely. That accounts for about $50 of it.)
Then I've been reading all these Larry Burkett and Motley Fool books on budgeting, so I sat down to budget given the new reality of our life -- I got a job so I'm making more money than we originally budgeted for. Plus this extra rent. (and taking out the storage units we will no longer be needing.) PLUS the no more credit card payments AT ALL. (BTW, Common Room children. Don't do like I did. When you get credit card, never ever let yourself put anything on them that will disappear before the debt did! The only reason I'd use credit cards at all is to build up credit for when you want to buy a house or, perhaps, a (used) car. In fact, I heartily recommend going to a Dave Ramsey sponsored money seminar. My husband and I were given tuition to one within 6 weeks of our wedding -- and it is directly responsible for us being out of debt now. We finally got serious about paying off the debt.)
And I have to wonder -- we were working with a budget before (but not paying that much attention to it, I must admit. Though we never ran out of money and WERE managing to put it into savings, etc. Thus this effort to do a double-entry bookkeeping system in hopes of making it work better.) And somehow I can't figure out how we were making it before as it seems we're spending more money on paper than we make! (And certainly more than the his-income-only that I would love to be budgetting on. As soon as he gets a 40-hr-a-week job... Please pray.)
I'm sure glad we didn't take one of the places that would have been $1200/mo though! (Even if it WAS just down the street from my best friend :( ) If we're having problems making ends meet at this level, that would have been completely unworkable!
I find myself thinking "I want curtains" "I want a comfortable chair to read" etc... but then again, we are signing a lease for only 6 months because we don't know how long we're going to be here! So it doesn' really make sense to buy a bunch of stuff (as well as the lack of money to pay for it without raiding savings or something)
The table is necessary though. I saw something that would work at Goodwill for $30. and I need a place for 4 people to sit around and eat together to serve Christmas dinner when my parents come up (Plus for other entertaining afterward. I have a space big enough, I want to invite people from church, etc over on occasion!)
posted by MommyLydia | 11/01/2005 10:01:00 PM
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