Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy House Anniversary!

 
moving day, April 16, 2010

We have officially been in our house for one whole year (and nine days to be exact).
Happy House Anniversary!

Buying our first home was seriously one of the most stressful times in my entire life. 
Honestly, I really didn't believe we could do it. 

We got married in September 2009 and just two months later (when the government announced another $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers) we decided we were going to try for it.  We only had five months to close in order to make the deadline and we had very little saved up for a down payment. 
I really, really didn't believe we could do it.

Looking back, I remember thinking that at some point someone would just bail us out.  Mom? Dad? Anyone have some extra $$$ laying around to hand our way?  How I wished!  Instead we had to get our creative juices going and came up with some new ways to save and earn extra cash.

Goodbye salon hair care.
Goodbye new clothes.
Goodbye vacation fund.
Goodbye lunch dates with friends.

But...

Hello Mr. Zesty!

I have to say, Kyle wins the prize for the most effort in the "earn extra cash" area.
He dressed up in a pickle costume, an ill-fitting superhero outfit, and donated plasma.
All to add to our house fund.

I started making and selling onesies on etsy, which I really loved
(maybe someday soon I'll get back to that venue). 
I also traveled to Colorado for wholesale markets on weekends to earn extra dollars.

We were busier than ever and it was really very stressful, but I could hardly believe that when it came time to close on our house we had more than enough for the down payment and some extras.  It still would've been nice for someone to have handed us over the cash in the first place, but I think we learned some valuable lessons early in our marriage that helped us to start off strong.  What is even better, is most of our thrifty habits learned during those five months have stayed with us and made it possible for us to do other fun things we really enjoy.

Like fixing up our first home.
And getting ready for our first baby!

2 comments:

vickyj said...

The valuable lessons you learned will far out-last the cash anyone could have given you. I am so impressed with your thrifty habits and proud of what you come up with on a shoe string. You are a good example for us all.

Jaclyn M. Howell said...

I LOVE THIS POST! And the picture associated with it. lol.