House Hunting!

Here's another question we've been asked a lot lately. Are we planning on buying a house soon?

Our house in Lloydminster sold four months ago and while we were not planning on looking around for a new one, until next year, we decided to look at a couple of them just out of curiosity when we came back from Tahiti.

Right now, we are undecided about where and what kind of house we want. We just know that we do not want to be, house poor. We like the idea of buying something that we can pay off in five years or at the most ten, so we can be done with debt sooner rather than later.

These past few months, we have enjoyed the opportunities, and financial freedom we have of being a hundred percent debt free. What a stress relief it is especially for Marc who provides and takes care of our family.! While living in a small apartment is not ideal, we are grateful to have a place we can call home that allows us to keep warm and where we are able to make happy memories with our children. When moving to Taber and going from a big place to a small place, we realized that the size of the place we lived in was not as important as the people we shared it with. We are happy! Happier than ever! We want to simplify our lives without necessarily denying ourselves of the things we like and love.

One of my favorite talk from Elder Tom Perry is untitled "Let Him Do It With Simplicity". He says: "We have been encouraged at almost every general conference of the Church I can remember not to live beyond our means. Our income should determine the kind of housing we can afford, not the neighbor's big home across the street...One of the better ways to simplify our lives is to follow the counsel we have so often received to live within our income, stay out of debt, and save for rainy day. We should practice and increase our habits of thrift, industry, economy, and frugality. Members of a well-managed family do not pay interest; they earn it."

All that to say that we really just want a simple life where we are not burdened with debt and being able to save even more for rainy days, and/or big family trips, and unforseen expenses.

We stopped looking at houses. We are focusing on other things right now. We know we would be buying one eventually we just have to decide on the when. The saying "Home Is Where Your Heart Is" has never rung so true to us. Home only feels like home when the four of us are together, and it doesn't matter where we are.