own our own compound

all right!

it’s important to us to put 20% down on a house, so we’ve got a long road ahead of us, but I just adore those milestone numbers!

we booked a week-long trip to the city we’re considering. we plan to look at housing, meet with potential employers, and soak up the atmosphere…

last time I was in that city, I got a hotel room with a kitchenette, and made most of our meals. it was pretty great.

as the date approaches, we can decide if we’d like to do that again, or have a little more luxury, and try some of the city’s great restaurants.

I suppose it’s all going to come down to our finances, and to how we’re doing on our diets, ha.

super-stoked for next month, which will be husband’s 3-paycheck month.

stay tuned.

my paycheck put us over the $2,000 mark in our down-payment savings fund.

very exciting!

our goal is at least $40K, so we’ve got a ways to go…

we’re hoping to be able to live solely on husband’s income after we move.

the place we’re considering moving to has a 25% or so lower cost of living, so we’re working toward living on husband’s check + enough of mine to add another 25%.

with a fully-funded five-month emergency fund in place, we’re comfortable raising the comp & collision deductible on my car to $1K.

we split a Zayconfoods chicken order with a friend and got 20lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast at $1.79/lb. we cooked up some of it, left some of it soaking up various marinades and dry rubs, vacuum-sealed it and popped it in the freezer. that’s going to lower our grocery bills by quite a lot this summer.

I’m continuing to look for ways to slash the budget and get us into our house ASAP.

now that we’re in a position to not be obliterated by an injury, job loss, or blown-up car, we’re ready to save in earnest.

we’re generally in a position to save about 25% of our income, and so this morning, for the first time, I was able to transfer that into the House Fund instead of the Emergency Fund.

that feels pretty awesome :)

we’ve run the numbers, the interest rates, the real estate prices… checked the job markets, property taxes, and traffic flow.

may have settled on a city and a timeline. now it’s just about socking away the money for a juicy down-payment on a 15-year fixed, making sure that the payments are no more than 25% of husband’s income.

we’ve got our work cut out for us.

our friends live full-time in a small house on a big piece of property in the mountains.

we covet it.

just a little.

we want our own.

we dream of a big sunny kitchen, a workshop/garage, hammocks strung between the trees, a few milking goats, chickens, and a place to make as much noise as we want without bothering anyone.

it’s on the list.