The Townhouse Is Our House (For Now)

When my husband got his new job we moved into a townhouse-style apartment in a small complex on a month to month basis while we were looking for a more permanent rent house. Rent is only $899/mo for the first five months, then $1,099/mo after, which is the cheapest rent we have ever paid in the state of California.

We have been looking almost everyday for a suitable rent house in our price range, with the right amount of bedrooms, and attached to the school we want our oldest to attend. We have not had much luck, granted we have been pretty picky but I wanted to find the right fit for us, a place we could see ourselves staying for several years until we are ready to buy. Thus far we have found three homes that we wanted. The first one we had agreed to rent but the owner lost his financing on the house he was buying (which meant he was no longer moving) so we lost out on the rental. The second one we found out was not in the right school district. The third one was almost twice what we are paying in rent now and we thought better of it.

And then something miraculous happened, and I believe it is a direct result of listening to Dave Ramsey, we actually made a really good decision for a change (something that seems to be happening a little more often lately...thank you Dave!). We thought it through and decided that we can meet our goals a lot more quickly if we stay where we are, and that is what we are going to do. With rent as low as it is here we can really hit our debt snowball hard each month and I think we will meet our goal of being debt free by August 2010. Once that is done I think we can have our fully funded emergency fund AND a new (to us) cash car six months after that. When we have finished up baby steps 1 through 3 we will save save save for a down-payment and the goal is to purchase our own house the following year. If we can sacrifice a little now I am convinced we can be debt free, have $30,000 in the bank for emergencies, replace my car, and own our own home three years from now. It is a tall order still but I am really excited about this!