OMG I just walked away from my house.

Home ownership is great. Even though i've been working almost 14 hour days, in order to move out and clean my apt in time as well as refinish my floors in my house. Aside from of course the greater financial responsibilities and maintenance and repairs, I only have ONE semi-complaint at this point.

The area we're moving away from is Hip, Young, and Happening. The area we moved into is how can I put it nicely.... Traditional, Suburban, and the only things remotely related to "Hip" are the lots of Seniors all over our block that have bad hips!
Tadum-dum! I know corny as hell, but TRUE.

I have the keys. I am officially a mortgage owner.
Goodbye carefree lifestyle... (edit: I have to be honest, i dont think my life has ever been carefree since since I was 4 yrs old)
Goodbye disposable income...
Goodbye messy apts that i never cared to fix up or put any effort in...

Hello Investment...
Hello place that i truly care about fixing up and taking pride in...
Hello...adulthood

I've been pretty much an adult since i got out of high school. With all the responsibilites that basically got foisted on me, soon after turning 18.

But with this purchase, i feel like i've crossed into the line of "bonafide adult".
I've always been somewhat responsible but I have always tried to hang on to my youth for dear life. And I still am!! Hell, i still refuse to shop in the Misses section and head straight to the Juniors section. "Dude" and "Man" are still part of my daily vocabulary. I still find cartoons entertaining!!

What does this purchase really mean for me? Is this going to change my life drastically? If so HOW?? What can I expect in the future?? Are the changes really just the square footage of my dwelling and much higher financial responsibilities??

I guess that's what this blog is for.
We will all soon find out.

For as long as I can remember, it's been a non-stop series of goals i feel i've had to achieve in order to feel "complete". I would really like to stop this, because it seems, just as soon as you're over one goal, there is another one to achieve. I am going to make every effort to enjoy every day. I am literally going to stop and buy myself some flowers and smell them some time this week.

I'm really looking forward to the last Harry Potter book, i've preordered and it will be coming in the mail! It's going to be like a mini vacation.

I can't wait to close escrow tomorrow. I want to write out this last big ass check for the closing costs and concentrate on organizing my personal finances again. I am so anxious to get back to my financial routine and just be done with moving around all this money from one account to another.

Long story short: I bought the house, i sign papers Monday, and my first Mortgage payment will most likely be on Sept. 1st

I'm too exhausted to talk about everything that's swimming in my head right now. Let's just say, I am overall happy with my purchase and I have confidence in myself that I will be able to successfully manage all the responsibilities that comes with it.

On to other things...I've read quite a few people talk about selling stuff on Half.com. So just now, I posted 2 things:

Only a few more last minute details before I can officially declare myself a home owner. I was a little paranoid at first, not wanting to mention to ANYbody about my house-hunting/purchasing activities because I didn't want to deal with any explanations just in case the the deal fell through. But at this point i'm pretty confident I will be in that house soon enough and I will have some else new and exciting to worry about.

THE MORTGAGE

I am very scared at the thought of the monthly mortgage and tax on the house every year.

I'm a fairly organized and goal oriented person but sometimes I have my moods where I don't feel like doing anything at all. This is why I have to be really realistic about the goals I set for myself, I know I get lazy and I don't want to beat myself up over that. Another SA blogger asked "What Is Your Luxury?" Well letting myself have lazy moments is my luxury. Letting myself feel like I don't need a million things accomplished as soon as possible is my luxury.
Sometimes I just want to take my sweet time doing whatever it is I'm supposed to do!! (Rant over)

God willing I find myself with a set of new keys to my first house.
Things to do ASAP after closing escrow:

1.) Start a 2nd Checking Account just for saving towards the Property Tax. & Home Insurance - Opening Bal. $600

2.) Move $1,000 back to my ING savings. Turn auto savings transfer back on. Even if it's just a small amount.
DO NOT TOUCH THIS MONEY EVER!! LET IT GROW AGAIN.

God willing, I will be able to change the name of my blog from "OMG I need to buy a house soon" to "OMG I just bought a house"
and yes it was the house with the elecricity pylons behind it. I have read everything I could possibly read about it online and my DH and I decided we could live with it....not Forever but live with it for a few years at least while we wait for the housing market to go nuts again.

I've found my dream home!!...sort of. The problem is the house is right behind some Power lines/tower. I've read a lot of research about living near power lines and most say there is no corrolation between living next to them and cancer or that they are non-conclusive. Could a few people please give me some feedback about living next to these things or if you have friends or relatives that live next to them. For example: How long have you lived near them, do you have small children, did any of your family members who lived in that home develop any illness' after you moved in...any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you so much.

I've been all over the place lately. I recycled my big bag of cans and bottles last week and was disappointed with my $2.10 earnings.

I had 2 Capital One credit cards, but I finally stopped procrastinating and closed one of them, so that i don't have to pay for the annual fee. Saved at least $50 a year.

Started recycling 2 days ago also and i've already collected quite a few bottles and cans since. I'm hoping to hit at least $5 this Saturday. If i can hit that amount, i'll keep it up.

Next Goal: List out remaining Credit Card balances and pay them down to at least 10% of credit limit with my next paycheck.

Everytime that Quiznos commercial comes on promoting their new Roast Beef sandwiches, i'm filled with disgust at the blatant lie they are feeding everyone. Just in case you haven't seen the commercial i'm talking about, i've posted a picture of the "supposed" succulent roast beef sandwich they are promoting.
Over a month ago, i bought that sandwich and let me tell you, not only did the "roast beef" inside that sadndwich NOT look like the promoted product. It looked like Pureed Roast Beef BABYFOOD. I was disgusted beyond belief. And not just because of the taste. But because it was the most blatant lie I had ever been told.
I am shocked, livid even that there has not been a public outcry over this, given that the commercial is in pretty heavy rotation in my area on the TV.
I have been struggling with my self to buy that horrid sandwhich again JUST SO i can take a picture and show it to the rest of the world. I am as you know on the cheap side (and i'm not talking about when i've been drinking) I kid, I kid. But i will do it... I'm going to expose those liars!

Ha! I did it. I upped my bi-monthly auto savings amount by $50.00

Goal for this week: Deposit exactly $150 of my "weekend" money on Sunday night.
NO EXCUSES.

Darling Husband
Dear Hubby
Doting Son
Dead Horse??
Damn Husband

This woman used to get on my last nerves.
I used to pass her show on TV and would switch right away. I thought "Yeah, I know!! Stop buying stuff I don't need and save more of my income", "Duh, I knew that already", "Thanks for rubbing it in that I could have been a millionaire by now, if i'd paid attention to you earlier"......Well you get the picture. I might be exagerating on that last bit there. But NOW...after i actually gave her show a full shot, I love love this woman. I love how she tells it like it is and tells your broke behind "You can't afford it!"
I always had the misconception that she only catered to uppper middle class people and that her advice would never do me any good. Well the truth is most of her advice IS over my head, but I do find her show extremely entertaining and it kind of makes me feel better about my finances when i hear other people having the same issues. You mean i'm not the only dork not saving half her paycheck??
I will save the intricate details of investing in all those wonderful accounts she talks about for after my first goal of purchasing a home. At this point, i'm happy with my ING account and an actual piggy bank for my savings needs.

Resolution for tommorrow: Raise my automated ING bi-monthly savings transer by at least $50.

You know, I DO feel good about paying my old debts. My reasoning was always that my money was better served somewhere else rather than paying old debts that nobody except the collection agencies cared about. I mean those 2 out standing bills didn't seem to be affecting my life in a significant way for these past 3 years, my credit was still good enough to acquire new credit where i needed it. I really hope this bumps up my credit score a bit. I'm going to start filling out applications to pre qualify for home loans in about 3 months. (YIKES!!) I can't wait! I can't wait! *Crosses fingers and hopes to get preapproved to able to buy something decent.

Instead of spending my tax refund this year on something frivolous for myself ( a cute new designer bag, a spa day, a shopping spree) I spent it on outstanding bills that have long been filed as "i don't care about these bills anymore, its been over 3 years". I only really had two bills that have kind of been an albatross on my back. I incurred these debts when i was in my very early twenties and i've meant to pay them all these years but i never could bring myself to do it.

Finally, it's done (well i still have about 2 more payments of 191.33 left). But i should be done with those in the next montht. I'v scheduled the payments through my online bank bill-pay. Now i can honestly say i am up ON TOP of my finances. Well on top of my debt anyways.