We moved into this house two years ago today. We also stupidly decided to host a Fourth of July party the next day for our families. With moving boxes everywhere and little sleep. This year’s Fourth will be more low key. We’ll most likely go to the beach in our neighborhood and catch fireworks somewhere nearby on the actual holiday.
We’ll have our “party” with our friends on Saturday. Tyler will grill, everyone is bringing their own dish. We have yard games. To my dismay, from both a liability and safety stand point-my husband LOVES home fireworks. I’m more comfortable with a sparkler but that’s an argument I gave up five years ago. These fireworks will most likely be set off in the street (nothing flammable) as we did last Fourth and on NYE. Our back deck will be utilized with the fire pit and maybe a pitcher of my famous watermelon sangria will be made.
We bought at the right time at a great interest rate. We were at the point of giving up on house hunting. There’s something disheartening about bidding on house after house with our hefty deposit, good income, and personalized letter to the seller and getting outbid because people waived contingencies that with common sense shouldn’t be waived and the purchasers of said way overpaid. In fact, many of the houses we bid on prior to this one have been sold since we bought and the owner’s lost money. Those homes weren’t meant to be. We were supposed to find this house on a whim.
It’s beautiful, everything is updated, in a safe neighborhood and perfect for our first home. It’s not a perfect house. Is there such a thing? We didn’t get some things we wanted. The kitchen is lovely but small. We really need more cabinet space, which is more of an issue for my husband since his hobby is being a gourmet chef. We don’t have a laundry room- just a closet. It’s fine, but I’d love a utility sink. We’d both eventually like fourth bedroom or basement. I dream of hiring painters since it’s so much neutral gray or painting the entire house myself but that’s isn’t a top priority at the moment.
On the other hand, it is in a gated neighborhood, the HVAC, back deck and front porch vinyl rails were brand new when we moved in. All the appliances and hardwood flooring were new (which with animals not having carpet is a godsend- I love my mop/vacuum combo). All bathrooms were newly renovated. Our master suite is bigger than most, the room is huge and the master bathroom looks like a fancy hotel’s bathroom. It also checked off the garage, fireplace, soaking tub, and two sinks in the master bath so I wouldn’t have to share one with my husband on our “wants not needs” list. The ample yard space and neighborhood amenities are wonderful.
I did love that many of the light fixtures have sparkles on them. I am distracted by shiny things. We did get the chandelier from the same collection to replace the early 2000’s lantern chandelier in our foyer. If only my husband would actually get it installed. It’s been on his honey-do list for ten months.
We rock the estate sale, Facebook marketplace, and hand me down furniture chic. We did purchase some pieces brand new but I’d say 95% of the things in our house came from the latter. It’s not all necessarily our esthetic. Do we have many fabulous pieces that didn’t cost much, yeah we do. I wasn’t about to go spend 60k to furnish a house. On top of buying the thing and paying for a wedding.
We have paintings on the walls that I’ve painted or that Tyler and I have painted together in those couple date-night things. There are different cross-stitches my grandmother and mother spent months working on for me when I was much younger. They both made them to give to me when I did finally bought a house. When I saw the one my Grandmother made and got framed, I cried. I remember her working on it when I was in elementary school. She let me pick out some of the colors. She passed in 2015. After all those years, I had honestly forgotten those memories until I saw the piece. He has his pieces too, mostly football memorabilia and pop culture references to things he loves.
Instead of doing a unity candle at our ceremony, he and I chose to have a tying of the three strands ceremony to unite us. That’s on our wall. My first anniversary gift to Tyler was a map of the location of our first day and the night sky that night that came up the first day we moved in I believe. He insisted. Next to that is map of where we got married the our videographer sent us as a surprise. The way too expense wedding bouquet was preserved in a frame is also hanging. We’re working on hanging more pictures. We have the photos and the frames the issue is putting said photos in said frames and hanging them up. I’ll probably get it done in the next week.
I don’t love constantly cleaning the house. That’s the case anywhere you live. Mainly because I have a standard that I like. I finally get it now. I understand why my mom and dad wanted to come home to a clean house. After a long day of work, coming out of my office in to a messy house throws me into a spiral.
Oh and we’re most likely adding an English Cream Golden Retriever into the mix soon. More cleaning, Yay me! I do work from home at least.
Fortunately, we have a home warranty because as an owner of a house you’re responsible for everything. You don’t have landlord to call and fix things. That warranty saved us with the dang dishwasher. Even if I was upset about how long it took. The monthly fee for the warranty and the $100 per service saved us from needing to go out and purchase a new dishwasher. It’s also been helpful with any other appliance issue we’ve had.
Other fun we had as home owners came in January of 2023. I heard noises in our ceiling. Tyler called Orkin to come investigate. I think they quoted me $10k to get the flying squirrel out of the attic and then close up all the holes so animals can’t get back in. replace the insulation and disinfect. I told him to get out of my house. For the record, it’s not an attic to store things it’s for ventilation. In the two years we’ve been here, I’ve never gone up there. Our storage is a large crawl space the size of the house. I called Tyler to advise him of Orkin’s plan and quote and he said absolutely not. My husband called every wild animal rescue in the state until he came across someone who could recommend a guy to get the darn flying squirrel out of my attic. He got ahold of him and he happened to actually live in our neighborhood. He came over and inspected, put in one way doors to get the flying squirrel out of my house but not allow him back in. Then he sealed up anywhere that gave access to the outside. My husband and brother in law took on the project of cleaning everything out and redoing the insulation. It cost significantly less than ten grand.
We’re trying to keep up with things right now because it’s easier to maintain if you try to be proactive rather than reactive. Inevitably, there will be significant costs of homeownership we wouldn’t have if we had a lease. Things go wrong, stuff happens, things break, storms happen. It’ll be what it’ll be.
Our house isn’t perfect, but it works for us right now and we’ve made it home. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs a home meets one of the first level of needs-physiological being a shelter and also ties into the second level of needs- safety and security. I would even say in some situations a home may add into the third level of of needs-love and belonging. We have so many memories in this house. I look forward to more both the good and the bad. This home would also work when we start to have a family.
We feel so blessed and I’m going to admit something that people don’t typically admit. I was wrong, my husband was right. I wanted to rent because homeownership scared me. With renting you don’t have to shell out $20k for a new roof or worry if your pipe bursts. He was against renting because at the end of the day all you had was a stack of receipts and no equity. We couldn’t afford our house if we tried to buy it today with the market how it is.
So many people would love to buy right now but the market sucks. Our mortgage is cheaper than rent in this economy. I understand why people feel they could never buy a house. Especially when the process itself is overwhelming and one of the biggest financial commitments you make. Not to mention the overall cost of living increasing with wages in general not increasing at the same rate. Speaking of which when did eggs become $5? Thanks inflation.
We both work hard, and have good jobs. We pay our bills, are frugal, very rarely go out, have emergency savings, retirement, investments, and we do put some money in our budget to do things we want. Living life does matter in the end it can’t be all work. I then review all of our budgets and assets with my certified financial planner every four months to confirm we’re on the right track of where we want to be.
We are lucky. Especially since he and I have both been in debt and lived paycheck to paycheck before. We’re comfortable. We’re not rich or anywhere close. I can’t go out and buy $1,000 Louboutin’s on a whim or book a trip to Dubai. We make it all work at the end of the day. I’m not tone deaf, I’m well aware there are people struggling. There are many who are in traumatic situations, struggling to make ends meet, single parents, health issues etc. There’s too many to reasons to list in this world of how and why someone could struggle.
Much of the reason I’m in the financial position I’m in is because my grandfather invested in my future and did put money away for me over the years through bonds and he made me a brokerage account which I was given at 21. It wasn’t a nominal amount but it was not a trust fund. I won’t disclose the number because it’s nobody’s business but mine. I’ve never touched it. I make my money work for me. The ROI I have made by not touching it the past ten years was well worth me not cashing it out to go buy car or an expensive vacation. I will use it when I retire.
My father made me put my paychecks into a 401k when I first got a job. We fought about this at the time, but am so glad he chose to not care if I was happy and angry at him cared more about looking out for my future. I continue to at least put enough for the company matched 401k. In seasons I’m able to do more than just what my company matches I do.
We both have wonderful parents. They weren’t rich, they worked hard and they supported us and helped us the best they could. Due to my family, I am in the position I’m in. I work and have worked hard, I’m not naive enough to not acknowledge that having a healthy loving family life growing up and parents who wanted their daughter to support herself and manage her finance helped me. The biggest thing my family has helped instill are the values that I live with to this day. When I started this blog years ago in my two bedroom apartment with a roommate. I stated I am my family’s legacy. My choices reflect on them.
Many people don’t have happy family life. Many people whose parents are in a position to support them will bail out their adult children so they never learn to take care to themselves or face consequences. That wasn’t either of our parents. Both of our parents thankfully took the stance you’re an adult, you screwed up, you fix it. I’ll be there to emotional support you but this is on you (add in chorus of I taught you better). I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful we had people who guided us in the best way they could in the way they knew how. Who made learn from my mistakes and deal with real life rather than shield me. Have they also made mistakes-who hasn’t? What parent hasn’t.
After college, Tyler’s parents let him stay at home under the condition he would put at least half of his paycheck into a savings account to purchase a house. I wish I had the foresight to convince him to move that into a high yield savings account but can’t go back. They didn’t have to do that, they didn’t have to help him.
I was in a situation where I needed to come back home and help due to some family things. I meticulous worked at saving money and paying down the debt I had from living in two of the most expensive zip codes in the country. They needed my help with many things, yes. They didn’t have to let me live rent free. I also didn’t love the situation, I love my parents it’s hard to move back home when you’ve been out on your own. Also, do you know how hard it is to go out on a date at 26 and say yeah I have a great job but I live with my parents. We were both afraid to disclose that information on the first date. 😂
We want children and we want to pay for their education, our parents are getting older, things unexpected happen such as layoffs or emergencies. Thoughts for our future go into many of our purchases and budgeting decisions. Reality is you’re never guaranteed anything. Life likes to throw in another ball when you think you’re doing well juggling what you have.
We love our home. It’s not a “Better Homes & Gardens” home, but we don’t plan on being here forever. Tyler wants to move in a few years because he believes that’s the best thing financially. When we would move he would want to possibly hire a property manager and rent it out for passive income. I’m not so sure about that. We’ll see when the time comes. To me, it seems like more work as well as risk than anything else but we’ll have that convo at the right place in time. Me, I’m day taking things day by day one step at a time. My days of setting timelines for myself are over.
Someone else is praying for what I sometimes take for granted. No matter how small those blessings seem I try to remember every day to count my blessings and make the most out of what I have. Society has us counting steps, lbs, calories, and money, how much would your perspective change if you counted something positive? I personally don’t want to forget to not appreciate what I have and have things turn into what I had.
Until next time, cheers🥂🍾
Coffee, Cats, & Champagne 