We Are...

Moving!

We made our official decision in late February! After looking at the house my sister, Julie, is currently living in and who is closing on a new home herself in May. So, the move won't happen until Julie closes and moves (or our house sales). But as soon as she is out of there we are in! (My sister's house is owned by our family, and is a rental right now for her, with us planning to buy it down the line).

We've been keeping this under wraps while we worked to finish up projects and start the downsizing process and were ready to be listed for sale which as of yesterday, we are officially on the market! Eek!

Our current home is 2,240 square feet, the home we are moving to is 1,100 square feet! We've not had too many people asking if we are crazy for this because the location is so desirable. The school district is one of the best in our county and its getting harder and harder to buy in the area. But the fact that we are choosing to downsize so drastically has to be confusing for some. Especially, since we are a culture of bigger is better!

Jon and I have planned on one day moving out to where our parents are but we weren't expecting it for at least another 5-10 years. But now is the perfect time for us to move really, its still just us two and the dog, Duncan. So, we don't need to worry about fitting a bunch of baby/kid stuff into the home yet; just all the stuff we've gathered over the past 4 years. Yes, we hit another milestone this past March, we've owned our home for 4 years now!

In preparing for this big life change, all the research, blogs and articles I've come across are reassuring me that this is the right move for us. We have been working to maintain and make improvements to our current home and not really enjoying life or saving for the future (besides my lack of a decent job for almost all of that time). There has never not been something that needed fixing or worked on. Jon, bless his heart, does the best he can but he has no real interest or passion for home improvements. I'm excited for him to not have to worry about as much; the new house is basically turnkey and about 40 years newer! And when Julie moved in 5 years ago it had recently been remodeled and updated.

The average house size in 1970 was 1,500 square feet and families were larger than the average of today. Having a family is totally do-able in a house smaller than that. I've seen it done! I babysat for a family that had 4 boys in a very small, 2 bedroom, 1 bath home (probably smaller than 1,100) for many, many years!

Although we got an awesome deal on our current house, we bit off more than we could chew. The house was all but abandoned and definitely neglected by the previous owners; it needed a lot of updating and still needs updating/renovations. And trying to maintain a house that is too big for 2 can have its downsides. I'm a terrible housekeeper, even when I had tons of free time. However, we are definitely leaving this home in better shape and condition than when we bought it!

The house we are moving into is also located in my hometown. Which is in the middle of nowhere, and has less than 1,000 residents. This will be interesting! I guess I'll get to live my childhood musing of being a "townie."

Please pray for us as we follow this new path God has placed before us. Pray that our home will sell quickly and that we will be able to break even! We already have a showing coming up soon!!