I know were we began… in the town of Lakewood, CO.
My husband, Wes; my son, Skylar and myself are living in a 800 sq. ft., 2 bed, 1 bath apartment. We fit, we had a routine, things were nice! Then we decided to have another kid and you all know what happens when you add another person to an already shrinking living space! Wes and I decided that we needed to get into something that had at least one more bedroom for the baby.
The biggest issue that we ran into was the price of housing here in Colorado. Wes and I had noticed that since about 2015, the cost of houses had been steadily increasing. How do we get the down payment, while still paying rent, to put on a house in the Denver Metro area?? We have a couple of options:
- Sell one of the cars and save money on car payments and auto insurance. But then how do we both get to work and get the kids where they need to be with one car. I’m sure some families are able to do this, and it is a logical choice for some. For us, it didn’t make sense. We would spend more money in gas and waste more time trying to get everyone where they needed to be on time.
- We could sell our possessions and live a minimalist lifestyle. Which wouldn’t be a problem at all, but our possessions don’t cost much and we were already living minimally. We didn’t take extravagant vacations, we didn’t buy expensive clothing or jewelry, all of our furniture was mismatched cause we usually bought what was on clearance or we found deals on craigslist or letgo. A good plan, but not going to get us where we need to be.
- Move in with a family member and save money! This was our best option. My parents are the most loving and accepting people you will ever meet. They are always there for their children and for those in need of help in one way or another. My dad is the type of person that will stop by your house on the weekend and spray your weeds if that is the chore he is working on at the time. My mother is the type to crochet blankets for anyone about to have a baby or make prayer shawls for those in hospice.
Once we decided to move in with my parents and they accepted our idea, we needed to work on our budget in order to see how much we could save, how long would it take and how much of a house we could afford. Stay tuned for our next steps in this process…
The Clepper Coop 