"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." Ayn Rand

Friday, February 26, 2010

Oh Blogger, How I've Missed Thee

I know that it's still February, and it's winter. But it's just so cold! I'm tired of the snow. I want it to be warmer (but not hot)...I want I want I want. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

Much happening in our lives; Biggest news? Richard has accepted a promotion with Testing Machines; he's going from blue collar to white collar, which means that his travelling will be greatly reduced. He's going to have an office that he'll have to report to every day, and a title, and minions and the like. He's also going to have to relocate. Me too. We're moving!

This was all part of the plan for the future, just not the immediate future. TMI will be opening its' doors in New Castle, DE in April, 2010. Richard's contract that he's signed stipulates that he must live within one hour of New Castle. Whoa!!! Timing is everything, right? So maybe I shouldn't wish for spring so soon. We have Maggie's wedding, and now we have a move to plan; we have a house to sell, we have a house to buy. I guess that's why I've been waking up at night in sheer panic...how are we going to get this all done?

We started looking at property, and at house plans. Diane sent me a plan that we both fell in love with; it's very open, it's on one floor, and it's perfect (except for some minor adjustments for the Christmas Tree closet). We looked for land in Milford, Harrington, Dover, Farmington....there's plenty of land available.

But wait. We've got to sell this house first. Uh oh, it's time to finish all those projects! It's time to get rid of all our crap! It's time to pull our hair out!

It's a bad time to give up cursing for Lent. :)

There's a foreclosure house in Debbie and Christian's neighborhood, and while looking for property, I happened across it...and it's way out of our price range. But it led me down another path...why don't we wait to build? Why don't we get something small, and very cheap, and live there for a few years until the market picks up? We can rent this house to the kids, buy a foreclosure house for as little as possible, live beneath our means for a few years, sell this house when we can get our price, and then use that money to build our new house, sell the little house, and move in with (hopefully) no mortgage and no debt (or as little as possible). I've been listening to Dave Ramsey in the afternoons, and reading his books; he says "if you live like no one else, you can live like no one else". He advocates no credit, cash only, eat rice and beans (figuratively) to save money, drive an old car, and sleep easy at night. Our foreclosure house plan fits right into that scenario.

We're actually hoping to see one of the houses listed this weekend. It's in Hartly, DE, way out in the boonies. It's going to go to auction at a minimum $68,000 bid; we drove by, and it's a little manufactured home, with a big boat, and a big camper in the front of it (no wonder they couldn't pay their mortgage) and a HUGE satellite dish in the front, which made us laugh. Detached three-car garage, one acre of property. Needs lots of love.

I'm so excited at the prospect of all this. It's about a 180 degree turn from how it's been recently...always acquiring stuff, things, spending on this and that. Richard and I have lamented about how we miss the simpler way of life; how it was when we were younger. I think we're both ready for this change. Scared to death, but ready :).