Our Financial Story

I've been asked several times over the past years, how we can afford to do the things we do. Up until two years ago, we were considered quite poor based on our income. Kyle made less than $10 an hour at his job, and I made under minimum wage doing daycare while staying home with our girls. Yet we still went on vacations, out to eat, had nice clothes, and lived a very comfortable life... All without using any government assistance.  It confused the heck out of people. Still does.

 To understand, you have to know a bit more of our history. Kyle and I met and fell in love when we were very young... At only 14 and 15, we were babies really. By the time we graduated, we knew we wanted to get married. We took the next year of Kyle working full time and taking welding classes, and me baby sitting and going to college. During that time we lived with my parents (still in seperate bedrooms lol). We took extra odd jobs on the weekends. We mowed yards (paid for schooling), we baby sat my younger siblings for my parents to go out (in exchange for our weekly date money), we painted rooms in my sister's new house (hello engagment ring!), we sat with an elderly neighbor man (bought Kyle's truck), and pretty much did whatever needed done. We did most of these things together so it didnt feel like as much work as it was.

We saved our pennies, we stayed the course, and by summer we had $7,200 in our savings. With that money we did something that now seems crazy... A week before our wedding, we bought our first house... And paid CASH. It was a 1976 double wide. It needed a complete remodel. Alot of our friends and family got us Lowe's gift cards as wedding presents and my parents bought us new siding sinse we chose to have a $500 wedding rather than a big event. We worked on it bit by bit on the weekends, paying cash for supplies as we had the money. We did luck out that my dad loves projects like this and was a great help. It took a year of living with my parents and paying them a small rent. But when it was done, it was all ours. We were debt free. 

      

The mere words "debt free" make me smile. Living that way has opened up so many doors for us that would otherwise be closed. Imagine your life without payments... When you are debt free, that is a reality. We do our best to honor God with our finances. The absolute worst times in our marriage have been when we started straying from that lifestyle. We have always been quick to get back on track with our budgeting though. It is a huge help that we have never had credit cards. We did make a bad vehical purchase a couple of years ago, right after Kyle got his new job. We paid cash, but basucally it was just a money pit and to get away from it, we ended up buying our current car with a loan that we quickly paid off. Looking back it was just bad judgment. We should not have bought the money pit. We should have just bought something cheap to get out of it and saved up for the car we have now. 

This brings us to today. We still shop at thrift atores and off clearance racks. The vast majority of our daughters' clothes are hand me downs. We save where we can, to spend were we want. We do currently have a loan on our NC home, that we plan to pay off in just few years. We have already paid off a fifth of it since December 2013, which I feel pretty great about. We also want to have some savings and are looking into investing (still trying to gain more of an understanding about all that). Kyle has a great job here and will probably never make this kind of money at another job, so we will be in WV for a good long while.

To summarize, I guess I just want to say that we are very blessed, BUT we did not luck into this life. We worked hard and sacrificed. We made goals and plans to meet those goals. We started young and that was a major help. Most people our age are just starting out really. It is never too early to have dreams... It is never too late either.

Bathroom Busters

Well we tackled our first remodeling/sprucing up project at our NC home. The upstairs bathroom was probably the worst room in the house. Nothing really horrible. Just outdated and in need of some tlc. 

We stripped the wallpaper and painted (Vintage Grey), replaced the mirror, and added some nice touches.

Bunny picked out the art.

I love it! I am so excited to really dig in our roots and make this home ours.

Update: We ended up taking thjngs up a notch by replacing the flooring and sink top, and painting the cabinet. It is finally perfect!

My Life In Between

If you are following me from Like Mama ~ Like Daughter, you found me! If you are new to my writings, welcome!

My name is Hannah. Im married to my highscool sweetheart, Kyle. We have three beautiful daughters, Bunny (5), Squirrelly (2), and Mousey (born October 2014).

I am starting this blog for many reasons. A little over a year ago, my life dramatically changed. After living the majority of my life in West Virginia, we bought a house in coastal North Carolina. By we, I mean my husband and I, along with my parents... I know what you are thinking, "Oh my gosh, she wants to live with her parents?" Well, yes. Actually we all get along great. We have similar goals and rather enjoy each other. We split all of the bills down the middle, so no one is mooching off the other. It works very well.

                        

But... And this is a big but... We don't actually live in NC yet. We moved in together here in WV (mostly to let my sister rent out my house so she and her children can be closer), and are paring down and paying off things before we move. My hubby has a great job here that he loves. That is how we can afford this dream. Someday, we will be there full time. But there is a lot if work to do here first. We go down several times a year, but the rest of the time, we are here. This blog is the story of my life in between.

Spinning Plates

Why do I do this? I LOVE writing. I love blogging. I miss it when I don't do it for a while... And yet here we are, almost three months since my last post. I think I get wrapped up in the idea that I have to have some impressive something about which to write in order to blog. I am going to try to start blogging even if it means just posting whatever I want.

Update:
Mousey is five months old and amazing. She has a dairy and chocolate sensitivity that we had to figure out, but other than that she is my easiest baby. She sleeps! The big girls love her. She and Squirrelly have a great bond of pure love, and Bunny is all about getting to carry her two feet to me and making her laugh.

Squirrelly is potty trained now except at night ( and a few acidents nere and there). She is a major girly girl and silly and bossy and I love it. She loves to sing with me, even when I am being ridiculous. Still a papas girl. Still awesome.

Bunny is going to be five in less than a week. FIVE! I wasn't freaking out till she sat down and read a bob book all on her own the other day, on the first time ever even looking at it. Then it hit me. She is a big girl. She is really so much more fun as a big kid than as a baby. She has either outgrown or learned to deal with most of her sensitivities. I am really excited to have new adventures with her.

The hubs and I jumped on my mama's band wagon (shes lost 30 lbs) and started getting fit through BeachBody. He lost over 70lbs since fall and I've lost 20 since Mousey was born. Its pretty exciting. We are feeling so much better too. We have big plans for this life. Going to have to be healthy to keep up. (P.S. If you want to know more. Shoot me a amessage on my facebook page)

Life is crazy busy and I feel like some sort of performer that is spinning plates on sticks. Every now and then, I take down one plate and put it away, and all is still for a moment. Then back to spinning. Maybe even adding more. Too many spinning plates. But none have broken in a while, so there is that. Hoping things quiet down a bit soon.

I would add pics to this post, but blogger isn't letting me do it from my ipad. Maybe Ill add some later. Going to go ahead and post it now before I get to busy... Again lol.

Reflections

As I look back on 2014, there is so much I could say.

It was one heck of a year, and not all good.

However, I started out with a word in mind, and through it all, I tried to remember to "nourish" myself and my family and my life.

But really, it was not me that did the nourishing.

He works all things together for good. 

He restores my soul.

He nourishes and makes me whole.

Thanking God for this new year...

I plan to relish every second of it.

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Mommy Moments Monday

Elfing

Christmas time has rolled around again. And while most years we find ourselves making the majority of the gifts we give, this year, with a new baby, we decided that we would save ourselves the extra work and just buy gifts... Holy cow! Now I see why so many people complain about the cost of Christmas. It is a good thing Papa has a better job now, than in years past. Even still, I put my foot down when it came to Baby Mousey's first Christmas ornament. I found one that I loved for her on amazon... For $23! Sorry, but that is not going to fly with me. Then I found one on zulily, but it would not be here in time for Christmas... Finally, I said to myself, "Self, how hard could it be to just make an ornament?" So that is what I set out to do. 

I searched Pinterest and came up with a few ideas. Most involved felt. Super cute, but i did not have the supplies on hand and didn't want to wait to get them. When the crafting waves hits, you have to ride it now. 

Then a link to a link to a link led me to some youtube tutorials. Boom! There is was. The perfect little mouse for my perfect little mouse. So I grabbed some clay (I had just seen some when mom was cleaning out some boxes) and made this little critter in a few minutes. 

I was psyched at how it turned out, so i cranked out two more little critters.

Later, I added eye hooks (I made them with jewelry wire) and baked them. Then I added some details with a couple of sharpies. I tied on some pink ribbon, and was done. Ornaments for my three girls, in no more than a half hour total, with only supplies I already had laying around. I call that a win.

Tails!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual, inspired by SouleMama, capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.