A very Dave Ramsey thing to do

So we spent a riviting night on Friday having a serious talk about our finances, about selling our house, about what we can realistically afford, and our hopes and dreams for the future. I had recorded Suzy Orman's "The Money Class" that aired on PBS last week. This opened up a lot of discussion about what we have, what we owe, and what we want to do with our money. I'm so glad that we watched this together. We were able to pause it and discuss what she was talking about and for once it was both of us learning together. In the past it went: I read, I try to explain, I don't get the point across, and Hubs doesn't want to get on board.

We decided that since we couldn't sell or rent our place out right now, moving in the next year or so just seemed unrealistic. We wanted to be able to put down more than a minimum down payment and wanted to not have to pay cash to get out of our current house. We've made enough updates in the past year that living there for the next couple years no longer seems like a prison sentence. With a Metro station within walking distance to our condo expected to begin operation in 2016, we have toyed with the idea of sticking around to be able to sell for a profit at that time. It is just 5 short years away and will open up so many more options if we don't have to lose money when we sell.

Dave Ramsey would be proud of this next part. Since we don't need a down payment fund right away, I took money from there and paid off our credit cards. Boom. Done. So now our plan is to spend with no credit cards and put all the money we monthly would have put towards those payments back into out down payment fund. We'll build that up and once we get to a more significant amount, we'll be able to start looking for a house again.

Now Dave would tell us to pay off our car next, but I just can't bring myself to pull another chunk of change out of our down payment/emergency fund. I like having a cushion to fall back on in case anything happened. We'll work to pay the car off early, but don't feel like I need to pay it off immediately.

So credit cards have been removed from wallets, budgets have been outlined, Husband is on board, and we are ready to start saving some cash! Another positive is no credit card debt means another item crossed of the 101 in 1001 list!!!

Have you had to sacrifice any dreams to make the more responsible financial decision?

the new addition

So after the Sofa Debacle of 2010 (where we got a little tipsy at brunch and bought a new sofa that we didn't need) and all the old furniture was gone, there was quite a bit of time with just the new couch, nothing else in the living room. I had sold the coffee table since it was too big for our space, sold the arm chair that had matched the old sofa and we were left with just a sofa with nothing else.

I started scouring the interwebs looking for just the chair and coffee table or ottoman to put in the room. Lo and behold, I found just the perfect chair at Target of all places. All of the furniture I had seen in stores has seemed to be very college dorm room. When I was looking online, I was a little weary of what the quality would be like. The chair I wanted happened to be 15%, plus free shipping, and I got 6% cash back from ebates. With a deal like that I pulled the trigger and ordered. Hubs unpacked and assembled it before I even got home.

I walked into the house to find my new love.

The color is fantastic with our green walls, but isn't so bold that it over powers the room. The added seating was also a bonus. Now the sofa doesn't look so lonely.

We also got a couple other items from Target that I am absolutely smitten with. 

A little blurry, but this is the Chesapeake Dining Buffet

And the Falls Village Nightstand, I can't get a picture of it, but check out the link.

These two items were a little time consuming to put together, but totally worth it. I love them, and I love that they are from Target even more.

Next up on the search list, the perfect coffee table or ottoman. I'd really like an over sized storage ottoman, we'll see what I can find.

Do you have any go to places for online furniture shopping?

Movin' on up (one day)

It's no secret that husband and I are desperately trying to get out of our one bedroom condo. I bought the condo when I was 22 and in all of my wisdom, I thought 731 sq feet would be adequate living space. At the time I had just started dating this great guy, but it had only been four months, so probably not the real deal, right? well almost 4 1/2 years later we're married and have two dogs. In 731 sq feet (that includes the balcony).

Now that I'm at the ripe age of 26 (and 11 months) I've learned that this may not have been the best purchase. We bought at the height of the real estate market and have lost about 1/3 of the value. Who seriously thought $270k was a bargain for 731 sq feet?

So now we're looking at townhouses for our next home purchase. There is a new development popping up in the absolute BEST location that we've been eyeing for a while. The homes are a little pricey, but they come fully loaded with whatever we've picked out. We've been hitting the open houses every weekend looking to see what else is on the market, but each house we found either leaves us making concessions, or having to do work to improve it right away. We're not exactly weekend warriors, so home improvement projects are not ideal. Giving up things like location or garages are also not high on our list.

We keep going back to the new construction houses and will hopefully end up there. Our only challenge is dumping the condo somehow. If we sold right now we'd be out about 30k which is not so appealing. We're saving and waiting and crossing our fingers that as soon as the lot is available that we want, we can simultaneously sell the condo to break even.

So in the meantime I've been daydreaming about how I'll decorate each room when the time comes. I'm going to work on some mood boards to share with everyone.

Do you have a future home you mentally decorate? Are you ready to move to a bigger space?

Do you have an easy way to create mood boards?

It's the little things

Hello there! Bet you thought I forgot about you. I've had tons of stuff I've wanted to blog about and just so darn busy to get on here and post anything. Here's a quicky for you...

Maybe it's because Spring is in there air, but I'm on an organizing kick. We do not have any cabinets in our bathroom, just drawers, so these get pretty out of control. It was time that we wrangle in all of that mess and get it all straightened out once and for all. So I hopped on over to Bed Bath & Beyond and picked up some drawer organizers. I wanted something with slanted sections so that each item would be easy to find and grab. We ended up with this:

Much better than everything just being thrown in there. Now the test is to see how long it will last.

Do you have any organizing secrets or tough spots to get put together in an orderly fashion?

Is it possible to fall in love with a chair?

While out and about and trying to waste 30 minutes today we made a stop by Pier 1. I have no idea why I don't go in there more often. I could have EASILY walked out with enough stuff to fill our pretend new house. While we were there I found a chair I could build an entire room around. Meet Sigourney. I love her. And a steal at only $400.

Then there were the pillows. Oh how I wish I had a neutral couch to throw these beauties on....

 

  

Can someone please remind me when we do actually buy a house to stop by Pier 1 first? Thanks!!!!!

all photos courtesy of Pier1.com