Keeping Up With The Joneses

I was watching House Hunters on Hulu last night and was disgusted by the episode (which of course made it that much more entertaining to watch). It was about a young gal in her twenties, living with her parents while working so she could save money to move out. Sounds responsible right?

Here's the kicker. Her parents lived in what can only be called a mansion, but the point of this young ladies house search was that her parents wanted her to move out so that they would have their "space" back. This girl was younger than me and had stuff in several rooms of her parents house including half of their garage. Again think mansion sized rooms. Appalling.
The parents decided to help her out financially with a down payment since she hadn't saved up enough on her own and they wanted her out.

House Hunters always shows three homes the people look at. This girl's budget was $400,000. Yes, a 20 something was looking for a $400,000 dollar condo so her parents wouldn't have to share their mansion with her. APPALLING. And of course out of the three homes the girl chose the most expensive one that was actually OVER her budget.

I DON'T GET IT. This is everything that is wrong with our countries' financial health. Why do people my age think they can afford something like that? Her parents are not doing her any favors because if she couldn't save up for a down payment do they really think she will be responsible with her mortgage payments? SERIOUSLY!

DJ and I have started doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We're not taking the classes but we're reading the books. If you haven't read them I highly suggest it! It is taking a lot of the money "tension" out of our life and most importantly out of our marriage. It is about being in control of every penny you spend at the beginning of each month, and "snow-balling" debt. We've got a long way to go but we are working towards being debt free.

One thing I've become more aware of is how EASY for people to get a loan or credit cards and just make those "monthly payments to pay it down". It is HARD to wait. It is HARD to have to save up for something you really want, but it feels AMAZING when you pay in cash and know that you don't owe anyone anything.

I keep thinking what our nation would be like if more people payed with real money and stopped borrowing. If more people stopped caring about what others thought and like Dave says, "live like no one else so later you can live like no one else".

We like it but it is definitely a challenge. It takes total commitment to stick to it. Check it out at www.daveramsey.com.
I think I will go watch some more House Hunters now and get some affirmation for our financial decisions ;).
And just for fun...

Missing the Farm

While Topeka looks pretty in snow, it's not the same as the country.
We sure miss the farm.

DJ misses chopping wood for the fireplace.

The rest of us miss sitting in front of the fireplace!

The cats liked the kitchen window, where they could keep an eye on all the birds.

Walking down the driveway, especially in winter, makes you feel like you're in Narnia.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the dogs in the snow. Of course Anne has her head burried in it, she's so smart.

Beautiful.

The house.

We really miss this place! It's always there for us to go visit, and we were blessed to have had the opportunity to enjoy it, even though it was only for a short time. Some day we'll find a place in the country again.

The Topeka Rental

I debated on whether or not to post these since we seem to move every year! However, I know how much I like looking at photos of peoples' houses, so here's our current home:

Front of House: We're on a corner lot so we have a huge front yard.


Side of House: I spent our first month here pulling up the overgrown landscaping (weeds) next to the house. I also did the brick border, I think it turned out pretty good! Hopefully I'll be able to plant more things in the Spring.


Backyard: We were lucky to find a rental with a fenced yard for the dogs- even though it's half the size of the front yard! It's still big enough for us to play fetch.


Bedroom: The beautiful quilt was made by my Aunt Annette for our wedding. The colors are perfect for Fall.


Office: Also known as the storage room, sewing room, scrap-booking room, guest room . . . If you haven't noticed it's hard to take photographs of the interior of our house because it's so tiny! Half of the office is missing from this picture :).


Bathroom: One of the reasons we chose this rental was that the bathroom is newly remodeled- no dingy tub and tile!


Kitchen: Tiny but functional.


Dining Room: We had to leave our nice big wooden dining table and chairs behind, so we borrowed this collapsible one from my parents. We have to get creative for seating when we eat at it.


Living Room: When we moved we left behind most of our big furniture. We started off watching TV and eating in our office chairs! Now we have places to sit when you come visit. My solution to semi-ugly mismatched furniture was making slipcovers and matching pillowcases. I think they turned out pretty good!


Thanks for looking!

From buying to renting...

Well, because of credit score mistakes made by Equifax (that are in the process of being fixed) and lack of time, we went from buying to renting. It was a hard choice as we spent a lot of time and money looking at houses, but for now it's not meant to be. We have found a small, neat place to live in Topeka. It's on a corner lot, so we have a decent sized yard and a smaller backyard. We will be moving this Saturday, and will try to get everything moved that day. We will no longer have our landline, but we will have our cell phones. Thanks for taking a look at what's going on in our lives!

Status on house search and helpful links for first home buyers like us.

We are still looking for a house, and have kind of slowed the search until we hear back from our lender. Due to some misfiling on my (DJ's) credit report, we're having to wait until the mistakes are removed. I sent a big letter with proof of mistakes to Equifax so we will see what happens. But, Gretch is still compiling a list of houses she likes and we are planning on going up again to do some house hunting. 

Some of the helpful links we've been using are www.newhomebuyingblog.com, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/reports.shtm, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/mortgage.shtm, and http://www.move.com/home-finance/default.aspx. The blog is a good index for the latest information realtors are getting and it's a good way to stay in tune with the housing market. The FTC has remarkably good advice for how to fix and repair your credit score and I've started to refer to this website more often to keep in touch with first home buyers rights. The move.com site takes a more simplified approach to common situations home buyers face and it too has been of some help. 

We don't know exactly what we'll do yet but we feel the push to get things figured out as soon as possible. We are about 70/30 when it comes to buying vs. renting, and we won't know our options for sure until we get the credit stuff taken care of.