<$Monday, March 31, 2008$>
Houses vs. Apartments
| Husband and I really hope that the mortgage loan and everything related to it comes through, because the last thing either of us want is to have to rent an apartment. We've already gone through trying to find a decent rental house, though, and that was a fiasco that I'm really not looking to repeat. If for some reason, though, it should--God forbid--work out that we won't be able to buy a house, we still have to move this year. In that event, apartments might be something we'll have to consider. Of course, having grown up in LA, Husband would be a lot more open to Los Angeles Apartments, but since we're stuck here, and since he's had some pretty horrible/scary experiences in local apartment complexes, we're both really hoping it doesn't come down to that. Still, I mostly enjoyed my stints of apartment-living, and it's not all gloom and doom. I can still think of plenty of advantages. For one thing, it's much easier to find pet-friendly apartments than it is duplexes or rental houses. There's also the all the landscaping and maintenance you get, which was always a huge selling point for me, what with my complete aversion to yard work and all. I guess I really am getting older, though, because I find myself happily fantasizing about having a yard to maintain, flower beds to plant, even tending a vegetable and herb garden. That's definitely something younger me would never have expected. So in the pro/con balance, it's houses FTW! It won't be the end of the world if we have to find ourselves an apartment, though. Labels: house-hunt, moving |
A journey of a thousand miles, etc.
| The mortgage app is hereby submitted. All of my pertinent financial information is ready to be faxed over to the broker. Since my credit score has really improved over the last year, and we've managed to pay off such a decent amount of debt, I'm not worried too much about our chances of getting decent terms. And since we're first-time home buyers who make less than the qualifying earning threshold, I'm fairly confident about getting some FHA, etc. grants thrown into the mix, too. The procrastination is over, the bullet is bit. Now I get to look forward to a lot of paperwork, a lot of legal and real estate terms that will hurt my head to understand, a lot of disagreement with Husband over what we both want in a house versus what we can actually reasonably afford, a lot of tiring days looking at houses, but in the end, we can look forward to our very own home. And then we can maybe possibly start talking of babies, but first things first. Labels: house-hunt, personal |
<$Tuesday, March 25, 2008$>
Improving credit, investing fear, new used books, and a hiatus
| Things have been busy lately, and they're just getting busier. But here's a quick update before I take an official (as opposed to the unintentional one I've been taking) hiatus for a few days to catch up on stuff. That's about it. The main reason it's been slow here lately is because there hasn't been much to report on the Bauhaushold front, and I haven't had time to explore what's happening elsewhere in the pf blogosphere. Soon, though, I should have plenty to talk about, what with the upcoming house hunt and impending tax rebates and all. But for now, I have lots of work to get done. See you next week. Labels: credit cards, debt reduction, frugality, saving+investing |
<$Monday, March 17, 2008$>
The Mortgage Crisis: It's Not Just Us
| With all of the talk going around both the news media and the personal finance blogosphere about the housing and credit crises and the downward spiral of our economy, it's pretty easy to become discouraged these days. I guess that's one reason I keep sitting on our mortgage application--as housing prices drop, it seems like a great time to buy, but with the Mortgage industry so unstable, it's also pretty scary. I definitely don't want to get into a deal that will just leave us homeless in a few years. I don't know whether to find it comforting or even more depressing to realize that the US isn't the only nation affected by this mess. The UK doesn't seem to be doing much better, or at least that's the gist I get from this article on UK homeowners being treated unfairly. It seems like there are greedy lenders on both sides of the Big Pond who are trying to take advantage of people's desperation and only making it worse for everybody. With stories like this, it makes me want to be sure I shop around, do my research, and be extra-careful about finding a reputable mortgage broker to help us down the path of homeownership. Labels: house-hunt, loans |
<$Thursday, March 13, 2008$>
Sometimes you just have to take a step back...
| ...and admit when something's not working out. Like splitting "Growing Up" into three separate blogs, for instance. That's not working for me at all. In fact, all it's doing is stressing me out. As such, I'm going to be making the following changes around here: 1. A name change. This blog will soon and thenceforth be known as The Bauhaushold Blog. And it's getting a redesign to match. 2. A re-integration of subjects. The house & home and health stuff is coming back here to roost alongside the personal finance stuff. It's not like you can really separate all of those things from each other, anyway. 3. A move. This one is still tentative, and will be the last to happen, if indeed it does happen. But I'm thinking about putting this blog on the front page of my site. I haven't totally made up my mind about this, though. I might end up just leaving it where it is. Labels: meta |
<$Tuesday, March 11, 2008$>
Product Love: Naked Naturals Shampoo
 I'm having a great hair day, if I do say so myself. A couple of weeks ago I was given samples of naked naturals shampoo and conditioner, and I finally remembered to take them to the gym with me this morning. Specifically, I was given awapuhi and lavender shampoo for color-treated hair. I used to color my hair pretty regularly, but it's been quite a while since I've bothered, mainly because of all the swimming I do. The chlorine can be pretty rough on my hair, though, so anything that targets any kind of chemical damage is a good thing. What's more, I've finally got the hang of putting on my swim cap (not as simple as it sounds, trust me), so between that and finding a great shampoo & conditioner, I'm planning on trying out a henna treatment sometime in the next couple of pay periods.For today, though, my hair is softer than it's been since pretty much before I started swimming. It's more manageable than it's been in a long time, too. I'm not generally one to believe claims that shampoo can magically give you better hair, but this one almost has me convinced. After a single use, my hair looks better than it has in a long time (and it smells great, too. Mmm, lavender), so I'm guessing that regular use of this stuff would give me some pretty great-looking hair. That this all natural shampoo is environmentally friendly is icing on the cake. I just wish it was available in the places I normally shop. You can buy it online directly from the source, but the MSRP of $9.00 is frankly too steep for my Suave-level budget, no matter how great the shampoo is. Walgreen's price of $7.99 is a bit more like it, and there's one right across the corner from my office. That's still more than I'd like to spend, but between coupons and watching for sales, I could probably squeeze it into the beauty budget. If and when I do start coloring my hair again, I definitely will, because I'm pretty confident that it will not only protect and strengthen my hair, but also help preserve the color longer, which will mean more time between touch-ups, which will only save me money in the long run. Labels: beauty, disclosure, green, product love, reviews, shopping |
<$Monday, March 10, 2008$>
Smooth Sailing Ahead: Windfalls, taxes, and a house in our future?
| Last week, Husband got his student loan check for the semester, and it was double what he expected it to be. I want to put the entire amount toward the credit cards, but he's concerned that we need a larger emergency fund, so we're going to split the difference and put half of it toward debt and half in the bank. That's still going to make a pretty significant dent in our credit debt, though. We got our taxes done last week--actually, a week ago last Friday. Between owing a small amount to Federal, getting back a slightly larger refund from state, and the tax preparer fees, we pretty much broke even, which, I'll take it. Now we're discussing what to do with our tax rebate check when it comes. Again, I want to throw it at the credit cards, but it's really hard for Husband to let go of that much money and not have access to it. So, we'll see. We're also considering using part of it to take a mini vacation to Eureka Springs, the town where we got married. Then again, we might end up putting it towards a down payment. This week is the week I'm FINALLY going to complete our mortgage application. We should qualify for first time home buyer grants that will cover our down payment and closing costs, but it won't hurt to have a few thousand that we can kick in if we need to. And even if we don't, buying a house is a scary enough prospect that having extra money in the bank in case anything goes wrong with the house will make us both feel more secure. So we've got a big credit card payment in the offing, money in the bank, money on the way, and we're on the verge of starting to build some home equity. Add to that my raise, which kicks in this pay period, and the fact that I've got enough work to justify overtime, and after a few uncomfortably lean months, we're starting to breathe easy again. The future's looking pretty rosy for the time being. I tend to believe that these things go in cycles, so we're sure to hit some choppy waters again at some point; but for now it's smooth sailing, and I intend to enjoy it while it lasts. Labels: credit cards, debt reduction, emergency fund, financial planning, goals, house-hunt, money management, personal, tax time |
Product Love: Dymo Labelers
I think now I can finally justify getting one. As I move deeper into home business territory, it makes sense to invest in certain pieces of home office equipment, especially since the new systems go way beyond simply printing labels. With the ability to buy online stamps and print my own postage, I could eliminate the need to spend my lunch hours standing in line at the post office to ship my eBay and Etsy orders. I could create my own address and shipping labels without having to fight with Word... and, yes, I could even label my cats. Oh, the fun we could have with a new Dymo labeler. Although I'm not sure the new models would give me quite the same sense of visceral satisfaction I used to get from squeezing out one letter at a time from those old fashioned embossing models, so I might have to keep one of those on hand for nostalgia's sake. Labels: disclosure, entrepreneurship, home office, tools |