Reviving the Old Blog

It has been almost a year since I've done a post. Much has changed.

In the past 11 months:

• I went from 35 miles to 2.5 miles from work. Now I drive 0 minutes a week for work.
• My ol' faithful car failed smog. We decided to retire it in state retirement. They gave us $1k for him.
• We save $42/month on car insurance due to only having 1 car, and $175/month on gas. We also save about $80/yr on registration.
• I now bike to work. It is glorious. More on this later.
• Wife and I are now debt free! We sold the fifth wheel that we were living in, paid back a personal loan, a hospital bill, and my student debts. It was about $50k in all! 
• The mower given to us wouldn't work (Googling it suggested it was not an easy fix). Dear wife and I bought a reel mower (more details on how this is going coming up).
• We invested in a chest freezer (more on this too)
• I am about to go from saving the company mandatory 8%, to about 35% through retirement contributions and house savings.
• Contributing the above amount to retirement savings will reduce my tax bill about $1600.
• Wife and I are becoming more Tightwad Gazette and Mr Money Mustache oriented.
• Wife is now a crocheting machine!

I am looking to use this blog to record the new things wife and I try, and our journey for becoming satisfied through a simple self sufficient life.

Background Info

Home, sweet home

Our family lives in a 39' fifth wheel. For those that don't know, a fifth wheel is like an RV minus the engine. Here is a picture of our home.

The reason we live in a fifth wheel is simple. When our only child Emma was born, my wife and I lived in a nice apartment for $875 + utilities. Considering that neither my wife and I had high paying jobs, and moving to an apartment with another bedroom would cost an additional $150, we sought out a less typical solution.

We could have returned to our previous living quarters at Rather Shadyville and continue paying $875 for an extra bedroom. Another option though was to buy an RV style vehicle and live near my wife's parents. We did not have a down for a house and did not want to risk the housing market with a 30 year commitment. What caused us to finance a new fifth wheel is that the monthly payment was less than $500. My wife and I could not find a less expensive solution with two bedrooms. That saved money went to raising Emma.

How my acquaintances see me

Socially, my acquaintances believe I don't understand how the world works. I think they are right. My American Dream is different than the typical expensive house, new cars, dogs, etc. Someday we may purchase a house. However, being debt free is more important to us. Unfortunately, we have student debt, hospital debt, and fifth wheel debt to pay off. Fortunately, we are paying the debt off each month beyond the minimum payment.