All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Tag Archives: house

PR Blackout Post 3: Moving Bug

Everyone I know is moving.  Ok, well not everyone, but a lot of people.  Whether it be just moving across town (or the county) or moving across the state, it seems that I keep hearing of more of my friends and acquaintances that are moving.  I even have a friend moving across the country to San Francisco and my uncle just moved to Italy.  This seems to happen ever so often, but after talking to one of those friends as she was searching for moving companies San Francisco, I realized that I’ve been slowly getting that moving bug.  I get it every so often.  Why?  I actually love WHERE I live for the most part. Okay, not really the location, and I actually can’t stand a few of my neighbors (our only communication in the last 6 years has involved the police), but I love that I live on the same property as my grandmother, my dad, and my great  uncle.  More importantly I love that Cameron can play in the yard without me having to be outside. I love that she can jump on her 4 wheeler at pretty much anytime and ride around the property. I love that she is growing up with a bond with these three older members of our family that she wouldn’t be nearly as close to if we lived anywhere else.  I mean she’s back and forth at their houses on a DAILY basis.  When I can’t find a particular outfit or toy of hers, I know that it’s at one of their houses and send her looking.  When something goes so wrong (like the loss of our dog yesterday), I love knowing they are all right there (and that my Dad was here to bury him).  So maybe I don’t love the location so much as the bond the location allows for all 3 of us with our family.

But back to the point – OUR HOUSE IS TINY!  And I do mean tiny.  Most of you wouldn’t believe the small house that we live in.  It’s 2 bedroom and 1 bath.  The bath is just big enough to fit a bathtub, sink, and commode.  Cameron’s bedroom is the size of (or smaller) than many walkin closets I’ve seen.  Two people can’t do anything in my kitchen without being in each other’s way.  The living room can only be set up one way or there’s not enough room to play the Wii.  Becka’s room is our loft and she has to climb a ladder to get to her room.  Yea, a ladder.  A straight up and down ladder.  Oh, and there’s no laundry type room; the washer and dryer are in the shed outside! Now with all that said, I love my house.  It was a graduation/birthday/Christmas gift from my grandmother.  It looks like a doll house. It was perfect for a single girl going to college, but it’s just way too small for our family of 3.  We manage, but I dream of a 3 bedroom (big dreams huh?) house where the rooms are just a little larger.

I get this bug every couple years.  Two times that I’ve gotten this bug, I’ve actually contacted real estate agent and banks, but I just can’t seem to do it.  First there’s the moving away from our family, and I know this may sound harsh, but at 73 years old, I know that my grandmother’s years are likely numbered.  My dad started having heart problems at 40 (that’s 10 years now), and my great uncle’s health is not great either.  Ok, they may all three outlive me.  I know that in my brain, but my heart says that I need to stay close and treasure every moment.  Then there’s the fact that my house and property are PAID for, and I just can’t bring myself to making a house payment.  I like knowing that we have a place to live no matter what!  Oh, and now Becka is a senior so college is just around the corner – college and a house payment? I don’t think so.

So the moving bug has hit.  Or maybe now that I’ve typed all this, I should put that in the past tense because I’ve already talked myself into dealing with what we have and being happy.  One day I’ll just add on to this house.

One Step Closer

Some of you may be new readers so I’ll give a little background. I live in a very small house (and this isn’t an exaggeration). It has 2 small bedrooms with no closets and a loft and one tiny bathroom.  It was a great house for me while I was in college though – perfect and charming.  We managed when Cameron was a baby ok. We still fit, but as she has gotten older and her stuff bigger, it’s become crowded. Now that Becka has moved in (last summer) we really are pushing it. We manage, but not easily, and the house is always a disaster because their simply is not room for everything. It is quite aggravating.

So I decided to start house shopping this summer. We must find something bigger. But the thought of going into more debt just scares me. I want to avoid that if at all possible. I think my dad has finally convinced me to just add on and remodel.  At first I was hesitant, but the more I’ve worked with it, the more the idea has grown on me. The only thing was I couldn’t come up with a floor plan that even began to work for me. The more I worked at it, the more frustrated I was growing. Well today, the light bulb went off. I finally had a brilliant idea (at least I think so), and I took it it my dad, and he gave it his stamp of approval.  Now it’s just a matter of whether or not I get as much of a bonus as I’m hoping for this summer (because I want to pay for everything we do).  It will still be done in pieces, but I want enough to add on one complete side this summer.

With this excitement, I’ve started a list of my “wants” to go along with the actual floor plan. One of those is a second hot water heater that is just for my bathroom. I love my long hot showers or baths, and I hate when I run out of water or someone else used it all before I get in the shower. Dad was telling me about something new (new to me anyways) though that I’m researching - a tankless water heater.  This is supposed to save you money in the long run because you don’t heat the water until you are using it, and from what I’ve read so far, I understand that you don’t tend to “run out” of hot water unless you are using it multiple places at the same time. I haven’t priced these yet, but I’ve been reading how they work, and I’ve added to my list to look more seriously into when the renovations begin (*crossing my fingers for the bonus*). Have you heard of these water heaters? Do you know anything about them? Here’s a video I found that may interest you if you are intrigued also.

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=cxDqDDLte5w

Use Buzzfuse* to easily rate, review, and share this item