I started drafting this post while I was waiting on hold with customer service. I am in the middle of doing something drastic.
How drastic? The most drastic. (How many times can I say drastic?)
I’m cancelling my internet service! Eek! I’m committing the ultimate blogger sin!*
You should be asking yourself… “No internet? Are you okay Kate? WHAT IS GOING ON!?”
I’m totally cool with y’all (y’all?? Maybe you should be worried!) having a gif intervention on Twitter. Please do.
Ok, back on topic. Drum Roll…
I’m moving!
This isn’t just any old move. We bought a house!
I’ve been mum about it because I didn’t want to jinx anything. Keeping my mouth shut about my biggest financial transaction has been so difficult! We closed the week before Christmas!
Due to all that, my life has been super chaotic over the last few months. We are going through all of our earthly belongings, purging what we can and packing up the rest. I’ve been living amongst the boxes since October. I’ve learned that as much as Hubs hates white walls, he hates living in Box Town twice as much. I never want to live in Box Town again.
I’ve sold several things in the transition. I’ve got a post schedule to discuss my successes and failures. Spoiler Alert: Yay eBay!
In addition to packing and purging, we’ve been learning all we can about home ownership. Our new house, while awesome, needs love. We have lots of projects planned. We go on dates to Home Depot and just wander around. We’re adorable. Free dates FTW!
The best part to come from all of this is that Hubs asked me with a straight face, “Can you keep track of all of our house expenses?” Hot dog! I’ve never been asked something so perfectly me in my whole life. Track stuff, on a spreadsheet? You kidding? I’d love to!
On top of the spreadsheet nerdiness, I’ve run our situation through a few Rent v Buy calculators. Based on reasonable estimates, the calculators say we are better off owning after only 2 years. It was tricky factoring in the love that this house needs. I know it will be expensive in the beginning, potentially incredibly expensive as we get through our first major projects. That throws off the Rent v. Buy calculator. Having actual numbers will let us know how we actually fare.
What I do know is that a week before we closed on the house, our apartment sent us a notice that our rent is increasing 7.5%. That was after a 7% increase last year and 9% the year before that. I’ve had about enough of that.
We’re outta here.
* Cancelling was super easy. It was like a 4 minute phone call.
Goodnight Debt. 
Congrats on the house! Those rent increases are no joke! I was secretly hoping this post as going to give me the ammo I needed to cut back on our ridiculous wifi package 😉 I cannot wait to follow along on your journey! Woohoo!
Thanks Penny! Hubs and I took each annual increase as “will you leave now? How about now?” Even worse, those are the increases AFTER negotiating it down. I’m trying not to think about how much we’ve spent on rent!
I’ll make sure to include all the juicy details!
Congrats on the house! Two years isn’t a bad break even point at all. I think mine was around there. Those 7% annual rent increases are just killer.
Thanks! With what we need to do, I expect it will be closer to 3, but still great! And yes, the rent increases are killer, especially because our apartment hasn’t been updated since the 80s. But that location though! 🙂
Congrats! It does sound like the choice to buy was a smart one with all those increases in rent! I hope you post about your projects – I know I’ll be very interested as we start on our house projects in the new year.
Thanks Jena! I’m pretty excited to run away from our rent increases.
I will certainly be posting about our projects! Right now, it’s a lot of cleaning!
That’s huge! Congrats on the big move! (You ARE getting internet at the new place right?)
Is the house livable while it’s getting all the TLC?
Thanks! Yes we will be getting Internet at the new place, but I expect we’ll be without for at least two months.
The place could be livable if we wanted to live there, but we have our apartment through February. We’re replacing the flooring so it’s easier to wait.
Congrats, my friend! What terrific news. Of course I mean you getting to track all the new housing expenses. Haha. Just kidding. Congrats on buying your first place! Renovations will be frustrating at times, but I predict it will feel super worth it. How fun!
Oh Thanks 🙂 I’m really most exciting about tracking the expenses. Let’s be honest. It’s the shiny bright spot in my house shaped cloud of dust. I cannot wait until Spring when all the big stuff is DONE!
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