Breaking the Bank

So after about 2 years of savings, Paul and I are finally breaking the bank. I set a goal 2 years ago (before any plans of getting engaged) that we would save a specified amount for a down payment for a house by Oct. 15th, 2007, 12 noon. I had a chart that I could physically see everyday, and we would mark periodically with a highlighter each time we hit a milestone. We set a pretty high goal for ourselves just to make things a little more challenging and to just get in the habit of putting all our efforts toward this one goal. Then, Paul drops the unexpected, but very welcome bomb on me, and now we must prepare for a wedding, too. Simultaneously, we allot a specified amount to go into the house fund and then another one to go into the wedding fund. I drew up another goals chart for the wedding with a significantly smaller amount by May 20, 2009 12 noon, but now we had to split our efforts to two different, but equally important goals. Everyone knows that we were able to fulfill the first one, escrow should close on Dec. 5th. In fact, we actually managed to achieve this goal earlier than expected which was good. Thank you for overtime, and Mary Kay! I kind of wish we had an huge ceramic piggy to break spilling coins everywhere just for fun and to be symbolic. But the euphoria we felt after accomplishing this feat was quickly replaced with nervousness...especially since this was a big investment amongst other things such as the house might need new coat of paint, the electrical upgraded, and some furniture... By the time we pay the full escrow amount, Paul and I will be left with our minimal checking and savings account. A tiny bit of emergency money, and what was left of our wedding fund since we decided to use some of that to buy some points down on our interest rate. It's very depressing to know in a few weeks we will practically have nothing. I am sure that with a slight adjustment on the wedding fund goals chart and a few catch up payments, no extensive gift-giving, plus a little bit of hustling should put us back on track.

I think about this all the time...Paul and I could have been doing lots of things with our money new cars instead of the 10+ year old Hondas that we will try to drive into the ground. Paul loves his toys, video games, gadgets, and I've always wanted to buy a piano or even a keyboard, but we put most of that on hold for now thinking that one day, it would look nicer/sound nicer in a house. It feels almost surreal to be at this point especially since we've been saving for so long.

I've learned a few things from this experience. Bear with me, I feel this is important to write down and remember for myself. The first thing is preparation. Nothing happens from nothing. Unless I had some sort of trust fund, there was no other way I could plan for a house. Keeping my goals clear as a daily reminder gave me motivation and discipline to keep going. Getting started was really hard. There were a lot of bad habits that like to pop up every once in a while, but honestly, once I started getting into a pattern of saving, it was quite painless. Probably because money was taken physically out of the account into another account that I couldn't touch very easily, and I only got to play with what was left behind. Secondly, nothing always goes as planned. When we got engaged, I thought, oh shoot. What are we going to do? We had nothing saved for this, and I had always dreamed of having a wedding in Hawaii five years from now not a year from now. So we adjusted and planned again. And because of the additional things we want to do for the house, we'll probably have to adjust some more. Finally, even though at the moment it feels like all we've saved for is gone, we'll probably think differently once we are moved in and settled. We don't have to worry about paying the mortgage for someone else, and maybe later on we'll accrue equity and have a return on our investment. It's just that the first few years will probably suck, and we'll still have to be extremely careful with our expenses.

So the next goal after the wedding would be financing the honeymoon and then maybe kids. I wonder if I have to make a goal chart for that, too. Just kidding. I think I'll start with something smaller first like a piano, or maybe something bigger like my second house in Hawaii...This is a quote I always remind myself ever since I joined Mary Kay:

"Dare to grow into your dreams and claim this as your motto: Let it be me."
Mary Kay Ash