New House, New Blog Style

I’ve been MIA for quite a bit now (over a year now… oops) so, it’s time to dive back in. Guess I have been on a mission of self-discovery. Over the last year I have learned other ways besides couponing to save a dollar. I purchased a house in August of last year and it looks a little different than my last house. On my path of learning more about myself, I found out that I am ok not having more than I need.
Our (yuppers, there is a hubs here) first home was more house than we needed – and that came with a weighty mortgage payment. After all, we would never need the space, unless I ended up with twins. We had decided one child was it. We ended up owning the house (aka “the money pit”) for just over two years and we were just over the cost of everything associated with that house. Of course, the hubs hated the house from the beginning, so I knew we were destined to leave that house. As much as I enjoyed repairing everything that broke, ha…ha…ha… it was ridiculously overwhelming. So in the beginning of 2007, the FSBO sign went up in the front yard (For Sale by Owner). We were lucky enough to sell when we did.

Fast forward three years and we realized that our priorities had changed. The desire to buy more house than we needed was just not there. There were tons of homes out there that were just so large that we would not be buying a need, we would be wasting our money into a want, and a “want” only drives you into debt – not very Cheapaholic Living friendly. I have redesigned my life to become more aware of where our money goes. Had we placed an offer on the larger home, (beautiful kitchen aid loaded kitchen, stunning great room, formal living and dining rooms, 3 fireplaces…ahh…ok, back to reality) we would be in trouble. While that house was under our budget, it would have cost us more than we wanted to spend each month due to the utilities alone! I cannot even fathom the power bill with three a/c systems. Eek. We found a modest home, under budget, quiet neighborhood, walnut flooring throughout, a decent kitchen (ugly, but it has major potential), and with a nice chunk of land made it a better home for us than our first home.

So what does all of this randomness that I am typing have anything to do with Cheapaholic Living? Well, due to recent events in our lives the budget is a little tighter and not only am I couponing to keep the peace, I am remodeling my home – Cheapaholic Living style 