My husband and I bought our first house for its resale value. We drove an old junk car, but it was paid for, we shopped at thrift stores, and in general, just did without. We later sold that house to buy land, then lived in a $2000 motor home while we built our house, since that was the only way to afford it.
We put our money into structural and long-term aspects of the house, so we bought the cheapest lighting, baseboards and door jambs as those are easy to replace later. We moved in one month before our child was born. The sacrifice turned out to be even more worthwhile. When the bad economy hit, we were still “right side up” in our house loan and had a low payment thanks to the nice-sized down payment.
Ironically, many people comment with envy about how much we have. But they are people who would never consider doing the stuff we have done. They’d never live in a motor home, drive an old car or think about using cheaper materials in their brand-new home. They don’t make the connection between the difficult decisions we made and the fact that we have more than they do. Now, I look around at my five-acre “kingdom” and I’m very pleased and grateful for what we have.
Roberta
We Sacrificed for What We Have Now
