Inspiration for a name

For months now all the economic news has been bad and everywhere I turn people are stressed out about it.  I have been reading personal finance blogs and wanting a blog of my own for some time now but wasn't sure what I wanted to call it or what type of tone I wanted to set.  Then I started thinking about something my grandmother said:

"People today talk about having a house with three beds and a bath, but I grew up in a house with three rooms and a path."

Wow.  Three rooms (rooms, not bedrooms!) for 11 people (two adults and nine children) with a path to the outhouse, in the middle of Nebraska.  Every time I think about that I feel so grateful for what I have.  Once grateful, my anxiety fades and it easier to think about what I can do to improve my situation.

Here's to a new year and working for a better life!

MY SITUATION:

I live in the SF Bay Area of California.  I bought a house in 2007 with 100% financing and a fixed rate mortgage that is worth about $90,000 less that what I paid for it.

Credit card debt: none (pay it off every month)

Student loan debt: none (paid off )

Car loan: none (paid off my 2007 car six months after purchase)

Retirement fund:  $80,000

Emergency fund: $22,000

Home Improvement fund: $1500

Money in stock account: $18,000

I've learned many important lessons about money and as a result made some good decisions that improved my position.  I've also made some mistakes which I will hopefully learn from and not repeat.  Here is an example of a good thing and a bad thing I did:

GOOD DECISION

I completed the general education portion of college at a community college.  At $50 a semester for tuition it was a bargain.  To finish my degree I chose a cheap university in an area with a low cost of living.  I also joined the National Guard so I didn't have to pay the full out of state tuition (making it cheaper than my home state).  I was able to graduate college with a manageable $15,000 in student loans and about $8000 in credit card debt (The trip to Europe I charged was worth every penny, the other stuff was not).  No place in my field hires per diem workers without a year of experience so when I'd worked for 11 months I started applying.  I put the money from my second job along with my yearly tax refund of about $1000 towards the student loans and paid everything off within three years.

BAD DECISION

I was living in a great rental house but planned to eventually buy.  I longed for a house of my own but realistically needed another 2-3 years of saving.  Then my father died.  I thought of all the things I expected to do but hadn't done and now he would never see them.  I wanted to go out and get started; I felt like I was wasting my life.  That was the impetus to buy when I did, after the housing peak but before the market went into free fall.  I knew intellectually what people were saying, that prices were going to drop.  I knew I didn't yet have enough for a down payment.  I let my emotions rule my wallet and now I am $90,000 underwater.

In future posts I plan to discuss other good and bad decisions along with whatever tickles my fancy about my underwater home, frugality, debt, gardening, and et cetera.

2 COMMENTS:
Miss M said...
I like the title, it reminds us how far our definition of need has changed in the last 100 years. My grandmother grew up on a homestead, I'm sure she never imagined the luxuries we have today. Our mistake is one of timing, we came in to the home buying age at the wrong time.
JANUARY 7, 2009 8:30 AM

K-Money said...
Yes, we sure did come in at the wrong time to reap the huge rewards of home buying. I try to view my life from the perspective of how much has changed between my grandparents and parents' time and now. It makes me feel tremendously better about my life now!
JANUARY 9, 2009 1:30 PM