Brandon and I are trying super hard to save money for a down payment on a house. We are trying to save as much we can by mid-October. Why mid-October? That's when we would need to pre-qualify/approve for our first home purchase! The 'new home buyer' tax credit expires December 1st so we'll be seriously looking for a home all through out October will hopes of closing in the first couple of weeks in November.
So why save? Yes we know we don't have to have 20% down to buy a home but there's one thing this economy is teaching us...you can lose your job at any given time for any given reason. Right now Brandon and I are blessed with jobs. We would like to keep them but we are realistic and preparing for that day when one...maybe both of us loses our job.
We want to plunk down a healthy sized down payment that will lower our monthly mortgage. So if we should lose our jobs, all we need is a job at McDonald's and we'll survive. Or something to that equivalent.
So I've been trimming the budget here and there, modifying meals plans to incorporate food storage items (in case we really have to eat from it one day) and trying to gain skills like gardening to maintain some goodness in our life.
So in the meantime we've had to sacrifice some things we really want now for a more secure future.
Like...going to AZ for my friend's wedding. Sorry Alexis - house first, party later! Promise!
I could moan and groan about this - ok I actually did moan and groan for a couple of days - but in the end I've found that I have some mad math skills (ok I'm an engineer so that was a given), can cook a mean meal from whole wheat canned 10 years ago, my sewing/alteration skills are greatly improving and my tomato plants are thriving. A post is coming about the tomatoes!
Alexis - I'll miss going to your wedding, dancing the night away and having Brandon's 'Baptism by Fire' introduction to Arizona. But I know you'll understand. Maybe you can get someone to stream the wedding over the internet...just a suggestion?! A Earllexis Production!
In the mean time, I'll sleep better knowing we can afford our new house.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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3 comments:
Yes we've been trying to save too and so to help us (well when I say us I mostly mean me) with spending we've been following the guideline of "do we need it as much as toilet paper?" It seems to be working pretty well. :)
Haha...I guess we are following that principle too because we just switched to scott 1-ply recently! I'm still wonderin' if that was too extreme?!?!
Actually we use Scott 1-ply and I love it!! Mainly because that roll last for-dang-ever. You will see it's the miracle toilet paper that way...
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