Comments on: Home Sweet Home http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/ A rich life without a lot of money Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:44:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Frugal Babe » Congratulations To All Of Us http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-1544 Frugal Babe » Congratulations To All Of Us Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:00:36 +0000 http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-1544 [...] And there’s nothing wrong with giving ourselves a pat on the back for making the sacrifices it takes to live within our means.  A brand new Saab 9-5 would be so much fun to drive, but we’ve chosen to keep driving our 1990 Oldsmobile 88 and 1991 Honda Civic.  Because of that choice, we have no car payments, and our auto insurance is $66/month total.  And we deserve to be proud of ourselves when we put the car payment money into an IRA instead of sending a check to a car company every month.  We’ve also chosen to only eat out about once a month.  And to stay in our “starter home” forever (or for at least a very long time…).  And to buy our clothes at thrift stores.  These are not things that we need to hide from the world.  I say that anyone who is living within their means should shout it from the rooftops.  Most Americans tend to look at people who are driving a MBW suv and assume that they much be wealthy.  But maybe they’re struggling to make the payments on the fancy car.  Maybe the person in the other lane in a 10 year old Buick is actually a millionaire.  We judge people all the time by their stuff, because people who live within their means don’t tend to advertise their frugal ways.  But we should.  We should all be proud of ourselves for doing whatever we can to achieve our financial goals.  And pf blogs are a great source of inspiration to so many of us who take solace in knowing that there are lots of us out here who are struggling with financial decisions and responsibilities.  We need to be congratulating not only ourselves, but each other as well.  [...] [...] And there’s nothing wrong with giving ourselves a pat on the back for making the sacrifices it takes to live within our means.  A brand new Saab 9-5 would be so much fun to drive, but we’ve chosen to keep driving our 1990 Oldsmobile 88 and 1991 Honda Civic.  Because of that choice, we have no car payments, and our auto insurance is $66/month total.  And we deserve to be proud of ourselves when we put the car payment money into an IRA instead of sending a check to a car company every month.  We’ve also chosen to only eat out about once a month.  And to stay in our “starter home” forever (or for at least a very long time…).  And to buy our clothes at thrift stores.  These are not things that we need to hide from the world.  I say that anyone who is living within their means should shout it from the rooftops.  Most Americans tend to look at people who are driving a MBW suv and assume that they much be wealthy.  But maybe they’re struggling to make the payments on the fancy car.  Maybe the person in the other lane in a 10 year old Buick is actually a millionaire.  We judge people all the time by their stuff, because people who live within their means don’t tend to advertise their frugal ways.  But we should.  We should all be proud of ourselves for doing whatever we can to achieve our financial goals.  And pf blogs are a great source of inspiration to so many of us who take solace in knowing that there are lots of us out here who are struggling with financial decisions and responsibilities.  We need to be congratulating not only ourselves, but each other as well.  [...]

]]> By: Frugal Babe » Our New Wall http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-557 Frugal Babe » Our New Wall Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:25:55 +0000 http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-557 [...] When we decided that we could stay in our current house forever (or for a long time anyway), we knew that we would have to do some remodeling in order to have an office and still have a bedroom for a child - since we do plan to have one or two someday.  Our plan was to build a wall in one of our living rooms to create a smaller living room and an separate office.  My parents love remodeling.  They’ve been buying and remodeling decrepit houses for 30 years, and are quite good at it.  So they were excited to help us with our little project this week.  My husband and my parents started on the wall yesterday afternoon, and by the time I got home they had several studs in place.  We now have a completed stud wall with framing for a door… it makes me happy just looking at it.  My parents went home for the weekend, but they’ll be back on Sunday (their training lasts 3 weeks), and we’re all excited to keep working on our new office. We’re thrilled that our plan to be able to keep the house we love (and can afford) is falling into place.  And I’m very thankful for my parents!  [...] [...] When we decided that we could stay in our current house forever (or for a long time anyway), we knew that we would have to do some remodeling in order to have an office and still have a bedroom for a child – since we do plan to have one or two someday.  Our plan was to build a wall in one of our living rooms to create a smaller living room and an separate office.  My parents love remodeling.  They’ve been buying and remodeling decrepit houses for 30 years, and are quite good at it.  So they were excited to help us with our little project this week.  My husband and my parents started on the wall yesterday afternoon, and by the time I got home they had several studs in place.  We now have a completed stud wall with framing for a door… it makes me happy just looking at it.  My parents went home for the weekend, but they’ll be back on Sunday (their training lasts 3 weeks), and we’re all excited to keep working on our new office. We’re thrilled that our plan to be able to keep the house we love (and can afford) is falling into place.  And I’m very thankful for my parents!  [...]

]]> By: DivaJean http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-96 DivaJean Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:18:38 +0000 http://frugalbabe.com/2006/11/18/home-sweet-home/#comment-96 Hooray for you & your hubby! I am 40 with 3 kids and my partner & I have a home of similar size. It is a challenge living in a "small" home- but it makes us constantly re-evaluate what "stuff" has meaning and what needs to go! Our kidlets are young now (7, 4, 1 years old), but we know we will likely need to plan to convert some of our finished basement to a suite for my daughter when she hits the teen years (doubtful she'd want to share a room with a sister 6 years younger than she is!). We have a 7 year plan to get my craft/office room in the basement ready to be a bedroom and to have a bathroom put in downstairs. This helps in that I have a realistic timeline and KNOW I need to use up my craft stuff and NOT BUY more- so it helps save money in that respect too. Hooray for you & your hubby!

I am 40 with 3 kids and my partner & I have a home of similar size. It is a challenge living in a “small” home- but it makes us constantly re-evaluate what “stuff” has meaning and what needs to go! Our kidlets are young now (7, 4, 1 years old), but we know we will likely need to plan to convert some of our finished basement to a suite for my daughter when she hits the teen years (doubtful she’d want to share a room with a sister 6 years younger than she is!). We have a 7 year plan to get my craft/office room in the basement ready to be a bedroom and to have a bathroom put in downstairs. This helps in that I have a realistic timeline and KNOW I need to use up my craft stuff and NOT BUY more- so it helps save money in that respect too.

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