When you talk life and money, real estate comes up eventually.  In the journey to debt free, real estate can make you or break you. 

What have we learned? 

(How nice of you to ask.  )

A wise friend told us, "You make money on a house the day you buy it not the day you sell it.  So, buy low."  With that in mind, in the fall 2006 we set out to buy the ugliest house in the nicest neighborhood for the lowest price.  Weird, I know. 

We paid less than a hundred in a market where the median house was $150,000.  We painted, we cleaned, we scrubbed, we fixed the broken stuff, we cut back overgrown bushes, and mowed the yard.  Wow!  What a little elbow grease can do for an ugly house.  In early spring 2010 we sold and now we're doing it all over again.  

Here's what we've learned so far:

1.  Buy low. 

2.  Before you make an offer, visit the tax assessor's office.  The records are public and with just a physical address you can find out when the current owner bought the house and how much they paid. 

3.  House inspections are worth every penny.

4.  Don't house hunt with your emotions.  Set them aside and think practical.

5.  Don't overdo the upgrades.  You'll never recover the cost of an in ground pool. So sad, I know.

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:11-13

We're all guilty of thinking, if only I had a bigger house?  If only I had a walk-in closet, a bigger yard... if only we had another bedroom, another bathroom, a bigger kitchen...

Philippians 4:11-13 is a reminder to be content.  If we pray for a little creativity to go with that contentment I think we'll be surprised by what we can do with what we have!   

How has creativity made you more content with your home?

Keeping kids well-dressed doesn't have to be expensive.  With our four kids we've had lots of practice.  Here's my best tips:

1.  Plan several sizes ahead.  This allows us to wait on a good deal.  I keep a list of what I need in my wallet.  When I'm at a thrift store, garage sale, or the clearance rack, I take out my list to see the items and sizes I need.  In addition I store the clothes sorted by size and season.  This way I know what my child needs for that particular size and season.  

2.  Take advantage of hand-me-downs.  You can't always be on the receiving end.  To get the circle of passing clothes around going, you gotta invest by giving away your children's outgrown/unneeded clothes.  It falls under the biblical principle of sowing seeds.  I'm serious.  Somehow the more clothes you give away the more clothes end up on your doorstep.  It's a God thing.  I have always given our baby clothes away (except for the really special keepsakes).  My reasoning was that I didn't know for certain God would bless us with another child and if he did would it be a boy or a girl?  If the baby was the same gender, would it be born in the same season?  It was crazy to leave bags of clothes in storage when there were friends whose babies could be wearing them.  With each baby, new baby clothes found their way to our house in abundance. 

3.  Enough is enough.  How many khaki's can one child wear?  Fourteen pairs of P.J.'s is just wasted drawer space.  Pare down the wardrobe to meet the child's needs.  Keep the clothes that fit and look the best on the child.  Enjoy the simplicity of an organized closet! 

4.  Care for them well.  Keep clothes stain free and wrinkle free.  It doesn't matter how expensive an outfit is if it hasn't been treated properly in the laundry it will look awful.   

With a little extra planning and preparing, our kids can be well-dressed cuties no matter the budget constraints. 

I once heard a story about two brothers who set out to dig a deep hole in their backyard. “What are you doing?” some older boys asked. 

“We are digging a hole through the earth!” the brothers replied.

The older boys laughed. Digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible.

After a few moments, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms, and other treasures. “Even if we don’t dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!”

The moral of the story: It is in the digging that life is lived.

In our journey towards debt-free living, how many times do we say, “I’ll be happy when I’m debt-free?”   “I’ll be happy when the emergency fund is fully-funded.” or “I’ll be happy when the mortgage is paid off.”

We’re distracted by crisis. We all face frustration, boredom, pain. But joy is a choice. 

By recognizing the positives in my life, I feel joy. Celebrating the everyday blessings is a deliberate action. It’s a purposeful mindset which transforms my life.

Blessings are all around us; they are just waiting to be noticed. We can choose to dwell on the difficulties or we can look for the joy.

I still have problems. I still have inconveniences and discomforts. However, I am allowing them to be less important, less significant by choosing to acknowledge the wonderful things in my life. I am practicing praise and attempting to do away with complaining.

There is joy in the journey.  

In every life, no matter how full or empty one's purse there is tragedy. It is the one promise life always fulfills. Thus, happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes and to add to other people's store of it. - Dickens

Most people believe that more money will make them happy. Maybe that's why so many people buy lottery tickets?  If you've ever watched the reality TV show, "The Lottery Changed My Life" you know that winning the lottery actually can make you miserable.

In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki talks about how having money doesn't make someone more miserable, it just makes you more of what you already were in the first place. It doesn't make you corrupt if you aren't already that way deep down. It also doesn't make you evil or bad if you are not already deep down.

I heard a story of a thirsty poet walking in the woods one night.  He came upon a well with a bucket and an attached rope. He looked into the well and the vision that met his eyes made his heart stop. Although a man of beautiful words, he found no words to describe the object shimmering at the bottom of the well.

Determined that such a dazzling thing should be his, he lowered the bucket into the well and tried to “catch” the object. The poet brought up several buckets full of water, but the object remained at the bottom of the well. The poet labored the entire night until finally, he had emptied the well. He looked down and was shocked to see that the desired object was no longer there! Worn out and distraught, he fell on his back. At that moment, he saw the fading moon in the sky, making way for the morning sun, and finally understood his folly.

Like the poet in the story, many of us spend our lives attempting to possess the object of our desire. We try vainly to “scoop up the moon”, not realizing that it’s merely a reflection. If only we realized its beauty was something that anyone could savor without effort or price, but that no one could own or control, no matter how hard one tried.  That is happiness.  A gift bestowed despite our circumstances that we must be willing to receive. 

This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life As Mom.

A larger house, a fancier car, or more toys - it's easy to see what other people have and want a life like theirs.  However, what we think we see may not be reality. 

I don't endorse Lending Tree but I love this commerical.  Is it worth the monthly struggle to make the payments on the "nice stuff"?  The anxiety and stress that go along with the mountain of debt required to acquire. 

The absolute best step we can take toward debt free living is contentment.  The Chief and I have reached a place in life where we are content to live in a modest house and drive older cars. We have fallen in love with the peace of mind and freedom a simple lifestyle allows. 

We can run after money, looking to it to give us life, and clutching it desperately.  We can focus all our dreams, plans, and efforts on how to get more money.  Or we can pursue faith, taking hold of the eternal life to which we were called. Life is all about making that choice.

 And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.  1 Timothy 6:10-12

This post is linked to Frugal Friday @ Life As Mom.

Speaking of grocery savings, I want to share one of my favorite resources.  Angela at Grocery Shrink  blogs daily and sends out a weekly newsletter devoted to helping families save money.  Just love her!  When you watch these videos, check out her blog, and newsletter you'll just love her too.

My fave cleaning product recipes:

Window Cleaner

Furniture Polish

Laundry Detergent (Also see Cost Analysis)

Have you tried homemade cleaning products?  Favorite recipes?  Do share. 

I'm reading the book America's Cheapest Family.  (A gift from my mother-in-law.  Thank you, Shirley!)  The Chief and I make it a point to read personal finance books frequently throughout the year.  It helps us to stay focused on our goal of debt free living and financial independence.  I am an avid fan of frugal living.  It has some wonderful advantages!  Peace of mind, personal satisfaction, being free to serve God wherever and however he calls, able to give more generously, ability to achieve lifelong goals and dreams, etc...

One of the very first topics the Economides Family (seriously that's their last name) tackles in the book is groceries.  For most families this is the area with the most potential for immediate savings. 

Reading the grocery chapter reminded me of something I learned when the Chief was a vendor at a large cookie company for a number of years.  He figured out very quickly that the sure way to boost the cookie sales in his area was to score extra display space from the store managers.  It is a proven statistic that impulse buys make up a huge percentage of our total purchases.  The more we go to the store, the more we walk by special displays and other marketing traps ploys that call out to us "Buy me!" 

That means one way to reduce the grocery expenses is to shop less.  If we try to extend grocery shopping to once every two weeks or even better monthly trips to the store, there is less opportunity to spend impulsively.

Thanks for the reminder, Steve and Annette Economides.  Thanks for the reminder.

This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life As Mom.

Sawesome!  (It's + awesome = Sawesome!)

There's nothing better than scouring the thrift stores for the next epic find.  My list of favorite thrift stores continues to grow.  And thanks to The ThriftShopper.Com, we can visit thrift stores everywhere we travel.  Awesomeness.

Think of the savings, Chief!  Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Drink the "Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid".  Seriously one of the best things you can do for your 2011.  It's not that Financial Peace offers some magical mystical information.  It doesn't.  It's common sense.  But what it does do is give you step-by-step goals that are easy to follow.  On average, FPU families pay off $5,300 in debt and save $2,700 in just the first 90 days! Stop worrying about money, and start your journey to Financial Peace.  2011 will be your best year yet!