June 18, 2007
Pipe Down or I'll Give You Something to Really Complain About!
Ever since we shook hands and blood-scrawled our way into a mortgage the size of Nebraska, we've been dreaming up creative ways to save money. Apparently, this is something other people do too, and wouldn't you know it, they even have a name for the guidelines that show you how much you should be spending on this and that. It's called a "budget" (say it with me: budj-et), and although it sounds like a twee cheepy little bird, let me assure you that it is not as innocent as it sounds. Among cutting out indulgences like gym memberships and Spring-Breakesque daiquiri benders in December, we're eschewing things like, oh, dinner.
Okay, maybe not dinner, but at least dinner out. Or lunch or breakfast or any combination (brunch, linner) thereof. Not that we eat out more than once a week to begin with, but we'll do what we must when and how we can, even if that means no more bagel dates if there's still some cereal dust at the bottom of the box in the back of the breakfast cabinet at home. Sigh.
Of course, the more I think about the food I can't have, the more I want it. On Saturday it was sushi. The one thing I wanted in the whole wide world was sushi. And considering that nothing in the whole wide world even approximates sushi, nothing else in the whole wide world would do. I thought that perhaps buying a small tub of seaweed salad (pricey at $4.50 for about a cup and a half, but a far cry from $75 for a full meal at Tachibana) would sate me, but as soon as we got within nosing distance of the fish counter at the market, we, both of us, came undone. A block of sushi-grade tuna and two huge tuna steaks later, you could see our smiles from a mile away.
This is how we're accustomed to doing sushi at home:
And this is how we do sushi on a budget:
How zen.
What you see there is half of a fourteen-dollar block of tuna, two portions of seaweed salad, and a bottle of champagne to fill the emptiness.
Om.
In last week's call for homebuying and homeowning advice, Alyce suggested that we (and you?) as potential purchaser take a good look at our (your?) lifestyle (hermit crabs or social butterflies?) and consider how a mortgage payment might impact an overall budget that previously included lots of travel, fancy restaurants, new clothes, expensive gadgets, etc. She's wise to warn us that if we have to make sacrifices in order to pay the bills, we should make sure those sacrifices can be made with at least a half-smile instead of a full-on grimace or else we risk resenting the house as the Cause of All Our Woe. It's nice to have a place to call your own, yes, but it's also nice to feel happy and content in it, which in the case of a hefty mortgage payment means making peace with the bills (and the neverending repairs/gardening/unkeep taking up all the time you used to spend getting diamond-encrusted pedicures).
Simon and I have gone on a lot of vacations over the past few years (mostly to weddings), so many, in fact, that even I, the consummate homebody, started feeling antsy when I hadn't packed or unpacked a suitcase in nearly five whole weeks. Coming up we have, of course, the trip to Chicago for BlogHer in July, but aside from that we're looking far, far into the future, when we can hopefully get back to England before Simon's impending niece/nephew graduates summa cum laude from Oxford.
Having swished confidently through a few more open houses over the weekend (it only feels wrong if we eat the free food) we're still reeling over our good fortune in finding a place that not only felt so much like us but that was also, objectively, COOL. (By saying that the place is simultaneously COOL and Us, I'm not claiming that we're all-caps COOL ourselves. I'm merely saying that even if the place weren't so "us," I'd still want to hang out there a lot.) Will we find things to complain about? Yes. Have we already found things to complain about? Yes. It's just like a relationship--nothing can be all perfect all the time, but hopefully the laments are short and minor and the solution is easily found through a couple hours of hard work or a couple hundred (or thousand) dollars for someone else's hard work (so far I have no plans to learn how to cross-brace a wooden structure).
So far, the nature of my gripes resembles the nature of a boomerang. I say, for instance, "The tire swing is only big enough for one person! Woe!" and then the words "tire swing" swoop through the sky, banking in midair to return and smack me upside the head because, HELLO WE HAVE A TIRE SWING. Ditto on the fact that the treehouse needs curtains, the dishwasher is black and not stainless steel like the other appliances, the hot tub only seats three, the zipline was built for people weighing less than 100 lbs., and one of the skylights condenses during periods of high humidity.
I deserve no sympathy.
(I was so going to attach more pictures of the house to this entry, but Flickr appears to be farshimmelt.)
Posted by Leah at June 18, 2007 03:29 PMWow. . .your house sounds so COOL. If I knew you and lived on the same side of the country as you, I would never never never leave your house. I'd be one of those permanent house guests. Happy budgeting!
(And I know just what you mean about sushi - NOTHING else will suffice. It must be sushi with wasabi or starvation. There is nothing in between).
Posted by: Janssen at June 18, 2007 04:41 PMYeah, if I'm away from sushi for too long I have to have salmon nigiri injected into my bloodstream for quick absorption.
I guess you'll always have veggie maki...
(trying to stay positive...congrats again :))
Posted by: monkey at June 18, 2007 05:11 PMYour house does sound way cool. I have a very strong love-hate relationship with my house. It's the right house for us and I love it, but there are days when... ugh. But sigh. We don't have Crafstman floors or a hot tub. (well not yet.) And our garden is a work in progress. Ah hell, I'm jealous.
As for the budget- it's doable. We cut out a lot of our bar social life and learned to avoid peak times for electricity and all that. The home warranty that will most likely come with the contract and all will be a lifesaver. It has been well worth the money, so much that we're thinking about re-upping.
Is there really a zipline? The other items weren't far-fetched enough for me to tell if this was facetiousness. :)
Also: that is very good advice from Alyce. Between your descriptions of your lifestyle and the fact that you think $25+ for a home-cooked meal is "budgeting," ;) it sounds like you're really going to need to have plenty of mad money each month. Don't feel bad about this! You shouldn't have to give up everything else in your life to own a home. I hope you're not stretched too thin.
Posted by: Jenn at June 18, 2007 06:08 PMThis post really spoke to me. For different reasons. My husband started a new business and we are staring down the shotgun barrel of moving into your neck of the woods potentially next year. The prices out there made me cry. Literally - I CRIED when my husband told me SF was at the top of the list for VC opportunities.
I hear you on budgeting. My goal if we move out there to be able to live in something that doesn't require a parking permit. Bah.
Posted by: cagey at June 18, 2007 06:32 PMYank: What's re-upping? I must know EVERYTHING.
Jenn: That wasn't a description of our lifestyle but of the kinds of things people might have to give up when budgeting. I buy new clothes about thrice a year and get them from Target, if that's any indication. Want to know how much I like to spend on a meal, even when not budgeting? About $4. That's the cutoff between "necessary" and "splurging." Sushi, though...That's just something we HAVE to have every now and then.
(And yes, there actually is a zipline!)
Posted by: Leah at June 18, 2007 06:35 PMCagey, you poor thing. You can cry on my shoulder anytime. Real estate is outrageous and cruel here. May you find something with its own driveway, if not a garage too!
Posted by: Leah at June 18, 2007 06:38 PMWe like all the good things in life (sushi included in my case!) and we have found a few ways to save a little money here and there. One easy thing was buying an adjustable thermostat. The hubby figures we've saved a few hundred bucks from our gas bill just from that.
Posted by: leandra at June 18, 2007 06:41 PMPah. No sympathy from me. Except for the budget sushi. That is truly woeful.
Posted by: beck at June 18, 2007 06:44 PMat least you didn't move to a city where there is no sushi... but then that made it easier to be pregnant last year. I'd have hated to walk past four sushi places every day in Vancouver and know they were off limits...
Posted by: trish at June 18, 2007 10:49 PMoo. love target clothes. I now live next to one which is dangerous especially when needing things for the new place.
I think once you move into the new place you won't feel the desire to go out as much. Friends will want to come over and enjoy your hot tub.
Your pictures were so yummy looking that I had to get sushi for lunch today. I've got to learn how to not spend more than $4 per meal. Can you share more tips on how to do that?
Posted by: Green Eyes at June 19, 2007 11:25 AMMy standard under-$4 meal is a massive $6.25 burrito, which I eat half of one day and half the next. I don't know if you can find burritos that size anywhere but California, though. Frozen burritos from TJ's (topped with cheese and slopped with sour cream and salsa) are, I think about $2 each.
Another cheap choice--a slice of pepperoni pizza and a Diet Coke for $3.25. Not the healthiest, but it does in a pinch.
Also, Filet o' Fish meals are on sale Tuesdays and during Lent. Woo!
Finally, the ol' standby--LeanCuisines bought when they're on sale for $2.25. Sometimes they're too small and I need to supplement them with a tomato or an apple, but that's still pretty darn good and beats a $8 panini and side salad by a longshot.
Posted by: Leah at June 19, 2007 11:45 AMYour house sounds like every kids' dream. A treehouse! A tire swing! A zipline! And, of course, for big kids: A hot tub!
Posted by: Crystal at June 19, 2007 12:09 PMBetween my fiance's incessant "let's move to California" and your liberal use of the words "skylight" and "hot tub," well...let's just say I'm starting to maybe MAYBE consider the west coast as an option for domestic home-owning bliss. MAYBE, I said.
Posted by: Clink at June 19, 2007 12:11 PMYou can put a hot tub or a skylight anywhere. Save your money and move to Missouri.
Posted by: Leah at June 19, 2007 12:24 PMI didn't mean you, (insert fake name here). I just meant it as general advice. For people just beginning the process. I certainly wasn't casting aspersions at anyone's life. Gah! I hope it didn't come out like that.
Posted by: Alyce at June 19, 2007 02:20 PMAlyce: Not at all. I think most of us got what you were saying (which was great advice).
Posted by: Leah at June 19, 2007 03:26 PMOur home warranty thing. It's a program that the seller usually pays (or sometimes you) for the first year that you own the house. Basically if something covered (which is most every appliance, ac, plumbing, etc), you only have to pay a nominal service fee to have it repaired.
We've used it 4 times so far- well worth it. It covers the stuff that's not worth claiming on homeowners.
I love eschew. :D
Well, your new kitchen looks so nice in the pic(s) I've seen that even toast will take on a gourmet tinge. For the dishwasher, some home-improv stores sell trimmable sheets of thin stainless adhesive-backed covering. May sound cheesey, but the results, I've been told, are quite stunning.
My house is only cool because of our work on it, but our new dishwasher is stainless inside and out. No tire swing, though.
Posted by: Texas T-bone at June 21, 2007 09:16 AM
