Owning a house is expensive. CP and I knew that the first few months would be expensive and, as is normal in our household, we made a list of things that we needed to do/buy and the timeframe. Things like:
*Buying firewood
*Buying yard tools (rake, shovel, lawn mower, etc). Yard tools were something that our landlord left for us at our place in MA so that we could take care of his house.
*Buying chairs for our dining room table. Instead of buying expensive chairs, CP and I ended up going to IKEA and getting chairs there. Our rationalization is that they are MUCH cheaper than what we wanted to get, but we needed them before Thanksgiving and Christmas…or else we would be renting chairs for the holidays! Plus if we have kids we won’t care as much if crayons/markers/whatever else are used on them. We can always get something nicer down the road. For now, they look fine and are good enough.
*Getting the chimney swept
Despite our planning, extra expenses have cropped up:
*New fireplace glass doors because both the house inspector and the chimney sweeper said that the old one was unusable. Did you know how expensive these things are? Thank goodness for a good looking one at Home Depot! Otherwise we were looking at spending $750!! YIKES.
*A leaking dishwasher.
*Then yesterday I headed downstairs to take Fuzzy Britches out and see a small pool of water in our sunroom. Annnnnnd now we have a leak in the roof above the sunroom. Fanf*cking tastic.
We knew that we would need a new roof in 2-3 years and had already started to plan ahead for it (by putting it on our radar screen). But if the leak continues every time it rains or snows, we may need to think about a new roof next spring, which is a HUGE expense.
What does this mean? Well, the extra expenses have convinced CP and I that it is not quite time for a puppy. It pains me to say that, but if additional expenses continue to crop up, we will not be able to put aside the money that we need to in order to not only buy the puppy, but also continue to take care of it.
Stupid homeownership.
6 comments:
I have learned 3 things about owning a house - something will always come up, it will be expensive, and if you do it yourself, it will take much longer than you anticipated...
But at least its all yours ;)
haha, this is why i haven't looked into owning a home, despite being 30! (well.... that and not having $75k for a downpayment handy). i am SO not interested in being responsible for house repairs before i have a husband/sig other to help me with them! :)
Yes, homeownership is glorious, no? So sorry about the roof and subsequent delayed puppy. But I think you guys are making a smart financial decision! Painful as those usually are.
This is exactly why some of us sell and go back to renting :) We haven't regretted it for one second. Sorry about no puppy :(
I'm sorry about no puppy :(
I refuse to even think about owning a place until I've paid down quite a bit of my other debt! Damn expensive car...
We had similar problems when we first moved into our new house! You will find a way to make it all work...trust me, you will. But, even though things go wrong IT IS YOURS! Being a homeowner is by far the best thing I have ever done. There are still days that I pull in the driveway and get a huge smile on my face knowing this "home" is mine...all mine! The equity you are building will more than earn you the money back that you are spending now.
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