Why do you decorate?
12 years ago
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- 12 years ago
- 12 years ago
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Why Do You Live In the Home That You Do?
Comments (35)i bought my house in 2000 at what i thought was the beginning of a boom lol little did i know i was yrs ahead of the real boom lol. i moved to orlando from chicago where i could not get into the housing market for under $300K. houses here in orlando back then were much smaller than i was accustomed to and many in HOA's and had very little lots, often zero-lot lined, all things i vehemently opposed. DH rented a nice townhome near UCF for $300 a month, shockingly low to someone who paid $500 a month just for her parking space in the wrigley area for many yrs. well just after living here a yr a little a 1000sq ft house in our neighborhood sold for $86,000. i could not believe someone paid that for a zero-lot teeeny house that was originally listed for $75K. that worried me and set me out house shopping lol. after 3 months of serious home touring i was at my wits end, everything we looked at was shoddy workmanship if it was newer and every well constructed old house went before it was listed. every single thing ended up in a bidding war. the very last house i would look at was the furthest from where i was looking, turned out to be the one. i saw it just once late at night, it had a mudroom was in a better county (thou taxes were much higher) and i was sooo sick of looking i decided to bid since it did not yet have a published MLS#. i was the first bid, the next a.m. when it got the MLS# 5 other bids came in. in the end i paid $10K more but came right in under $100K where i wanted to be so my payment would be under $500 a month. it's been to this day the best decision i ever made! i stayed under budget so that even if i was jobless i could easily afford all my bills on unemployment. novel idea huh?! too bad everyone doesn't live that way. when the bubble was going in orlando i was up 325% on my house, now after the bust i'm still up 215%+ and we've been rising in my neighborhood where there have no foreclosures at all. due to taxes and insurance going up 400% my payment has gone up significantly to $700 (i'll be refinancing down to 5% and out to 30 yrs to drop $200 off a month) but it's still a bargain compared to most mortgages in orlando and you can't rent a 3/2/1 for under $1200. the next house will get $100,000-150,000 down payment and will have more space, a custom built new pool that i've designed and more amenitites. that has to wait a couple more yrs till DH is done w/ his MS degree and i get a tiny bit more value on my house. because i also want to fund our retirement accts w/ some profits. under buying on my first house has guaranteed i get a dream home next time and for a bargain price since the upper end of the market is really slow and losing value still while my middle market is gaining. ~ liz...See MoreWhy do you do it? And what are you getting out of it?
Comments (26)It would seem I'm a bit younger than most here. I'm 30, grew up in a home with one sister, and parents that were relatively frugal. My father was the more frugal one, avoiding debt, not wanting to spend money on anything he didn't need. He didn't have much of a reason, just that debt was a bad thing to have, for several reasons. We never went without, though, taking family trips each year to various places around the country. We always had good food, nice home and vehicles, etc. I started a summer job when I was 14, then an afterschool / full time job through high school and college. I started with my current employer 10 years ago, making less than the rest of my peers. Living on my own, and making more than I ever had before, I thought it would be wise to start furnishing my apartment and buy a brand new car, despite having a perfectly good vehicle already. This new car wasn't designed for Colorado winters, so I kept the other car as well as the new one. Along with that brand new car, I got brand new insurance, which was quite a bit. This all stretched me pretty thin, living paycheck to paycheck. At one point, my company was going through layoffs, and I was concerned that I would be one of those laid off. I was pretty worried about how I was going to pay my bills, and whether or not I was going to lose my vehicle and whatnot. My father payed off my car for me, and even though I didn't get laid off, I continued to pay him what the loan payments would have been. Bonuses and other extra payments went to pay off the car a couple of years earlier than I was scheduled. This opened my eyes to what could happen if I "lived the American way", and bought whatever I wanted, at whatever price I wanted. At some point, I could be in this situation again, and I don't want to have to worry if something should happen to my income. I paid off all of my debt, and then started finding ways to live more frugally. I started shopping around for the best deals, taking things that others didn't want anymore, and didn't buy things I didn't need. When I wanted something, I usually waited at least a week, at which time I rarely wanted whatever it was in the first place. I was able to direct deposit money into two accounts, so I gave myself an allowance each paycheck, with the rest going to a savings account. The allowance was enough to cover all bills, and still have some left over for entertainment. I also started contributing to a 401k, and each pay raise translated to an increase in the percent going to the 401k. After a few years, my winter car died on me, so I found another winter vehicle for around $1000 to get me around. I did this a couple of times over the next 5 years. All the while, I was still finding ways to lower my outgoing expenses. After those 5 years, I had enough to put down 20% on a house. I found one that had a low mortgage, even though I could qualify for much more. I readjusted my allowance, and continued finding ways to lower expenses in my house. My father never did much in the way of home or auto work himself. He always paid someone else to, so I don't have much knowledge in that regard. That hasn't stopped me from using the internet and friends to figure out how to do things myself, which has saved me countless dollars. I finally paid cash for a good all-use pickup, so I won't have to worry about vehicles for quite a while. All through this, I've continued to build my savings and emergency fund. Once the economy went down the crapper, nothing really changed for me. I still lived my life how I had before, quite comfortably. All of my friends, who have continued to make more than me, are struggling to pay their bills. Throughout the years, they gave me crap for being cheap, yet look at us now. I have no stress, as far as money is concerned. I have over 9 months of living expenses in a true emergency account, am funding a 401k and Roth IRA, and managed to save enough for my honeymoon cruise to Antarctica next year. If something were to happen, my fiancee and I would be in a decent position to handle what occurs. We have everything we want, and need, and are able to do basically what we want. If I screw up my timecard, and don't get paid, I don't have to worry about waiting an extra week for my money. If something breaks in my house, I know I can take care of the problem, one way or the other. Once we have children, I know we will be able to meet their needs, at least financially. Once we retire, hopefully we will be comfortable at that point, too. Ultimately, what I am getting out of being frugal is peace of mind, with regards to money. It's also nice to see just how far I can stretch something, how many different incarnations an item can turn into before it is truly unusable....See MoreWhat do you do? Do you decorate your island top?
Comments (1)Oops! Just realized this probably belongs over on the Home Decorating forum. Thanks!...See MoreWhat Do You Have Too Much Of, & Why Do You Have It?
Comments (89)So many people with issues with parents...sad. I was loved, I had toys and gifts,dresses, dolls, books, sport stuff, games,I lacked for nothing . But as I got older, I think I tried to "recapture" my childhood. As an adult, I loved antique shows, flea markets, garage sales. Any time I saw something we had in our house growing up, I had to buy it. I even bought too many rose bushes and planted them in my garden, trying to re-create my Grandma's rose garden. I now have a linen closet stacked with doilies and tablecloths I'll never use, sets of fancy glasses too fragile to use, things like that. Oh, and on the funny side, my daughter cleaned out my bathroom just yesterday. She found eleven bottles of Listerine. I don't know, I hate the stuff, it burns... I remember buying one bottle because it did everything, whitens teeth, freshens breath, makes gums healthy, strengthens the enamel. I'm just always looking for something to make me happy....See More- 12 years ago
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