How it all began

More and more lately my mind has been on ways to save money.  Before having my first child, I worked as a loan officer. Despite the fact that math is not my strong suit, I've always loved crunching numbers. I remember being about 8 when I approached my mom with a plan to start getting paid an allowance. I had it all set out. How much each job would be worth, how I would spend (and save) my money. My parents never did pay me an allowance. But that didn't deter me.

Anyway, here I am. Twenty years later. Crunching numbers. Clipping coupons. Turning off lights. Hang drying clothes. Ditching my smart phone (soon!) All with the goal in mind of saving up enough money to buy some land & build a house.

We bought our current home when we were first married. To say it was a fixer upper would be an understatement. It is a double wide trailer with an added on kitchen. The master bedroom had a hole in the subfloring. The carpet was (still is actually) blue. The walls were horrid wood paneling.

The guest bath was adorned in turquoise & purple.

3rd bedroom flooring

But none of it compared to the classiness of the master bathroom. That's an Eeyore decal on the wall, and, yes. The word "Pooh" is spelled out in tile on the floor.

Why on earth would anyone buy a "house" like this? For one, it was incredibly cheap. And two, it had a pretty amazing kitchen.

We figured we'd fix it up, sell it, & double our investment. Then 2008 happened and the market crashed. Nobody was buying houses in our area. And we'd had our first baby & were pretty settled. So we just kept working on it as time went on. One project at a time. We started having kids and the five years flew by. I honestly thought we'd only be in this house for 5 years. It's been 7, and we'll likely be here a few more. But that's ok. We're content. Content but working towards the next big thing. A house. With acreage. Within a few miles of our our small town, but not IN it.