Well, well, well. It's hard to believe we have been living in our crazy tiny rental for (almost) 6 months now. That means we are half way through our initial intention of one year.
It's safe to say it aint happening.
We knew that months ago and that's okay. As long as we keep ourselves focused and have a "plan" in place, it's okay.
So....here's our current, slightly revised plan.
1. Remain in our rental (or possibly another rental if the situation with the Trolls downstairs doesn't improve) for another 1.5 years.
2. Pay off all or almost all out debt. Not a small feat!
3. Buy a home in Markham. Why Markham? Because the location is good. It's close to the city and Super Husband works there. Housing prices are WAAAAAY lower than the city and the schools are ranked highly. It also means we can stick with one family vehicle which is super important to us. Two cars = far too much unecessary expense!
4. We like it there. And we have friends there :)
So. How do we change our situation between now and then? Improve cash flow (insert sarcastic laugh here). But seriously. Up to this point, we have not make many significant financial advances since selling our house. The money that we ended up with from the sale of our home went to credit card debt. We have been making at least minimum payments on all credit each month since then and not incurring new debt which in itself is a huge win but it mainly appears as though we are "treading water". That part sucks and makes me want to throw a tantrum that could rival my three year old. But it gets better. Eventually.
1. In April of 2012 I am due to get a decent bonus payout. We plan to pay off the car with that and eliminate $427 in car payments each month.
2. In June 2012 Little Man will be 2.5 and move to the Preschool room in day care. Yippee....that will save about $250 a month.
3. Also in June (ish) we are expecting a really good tax return (thanks to a move >50kms to my office and the fact we have reciepts for lots of daycare dollars)!
4. In August we will eliminate Buddy's day care fees. We pre paid his last month up front and he will be starting school full time in September. That gives us $950 per month back. Granted, we will have to pay for some level of after school care but it will be significantly less.
5. All the savings from points 1-3 above (~$1,600 per month) will be applied to our existing debt load. Once we reach a "comfort point" we can then start saving a lump sum for a down payment.
It's a long, slow process but if I keep focused on the end result, I find it manageable.
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