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Aug 16, 2012    |       11 comments

Housing update…

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We just got word that our rent will not be increasing this year.  That’s one box checked.  Now we will contact our renters and find out if they will be extending the lease, looking to buy or…gulp…moving out.  At least we got the good news today that our rent will remain the same.  We are entering our third year in this house and the rent has not changed.  I am thankful.

All signs are that our tenants will want to extend another year.  I threw out the idea to Steve that we propose a two year lease on both sides.  Given our debt reduction plan, it would be nice to have a constant on the housing side.  I’m not sure our landlords or our tenants would go for that but it never hurts to ask.  That would get us to credit card debt free without having to think about whether or not the housing cost will increase.

Finally–it is August 16 and things aren’t looking great on the debt reduction for this month.  All minimums are made thankfully but I don’t see as big a dent coming and that is discouraging.  It seems that even with some looking ahead this back to school month is brutal.  In addition to regular school stuff we have registration fees for things like Faith Formation at church and after school programs.  I guess the bright side is we definitely have the money to pay the fees.  Unlike in the past when we would be scrambling to find the money because we had no plan.

Aug 16, 2012    |       46 comments

Is The Empty Nest A Fading Concept?

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My parents made their “rule” about all five of us leaving the nest pretty clear, pretty early.  After high school graduation we either moved into the dorms or paid him rent to stay in the house.  Oh I suppose we could have gone for option C) and gone out and rented our own apartment but it was somehow understood that option C) was a bad option.  Only one sibling opted to hang around a little longer than the fall of his graduating year and he  paid rent to our parents.  A few months later his stay was uncomfortable enough that he moved along.  I think Mom and Dad gave him his rent money as a little nest egg to get him out of their nest!

I wonder if this sounds harsh to some of you.  It doesn’t to me because it is what I knew and it was clearly communicated to me very early.  I can remember coming home from kindergarten and saying I wasn’t interested in continuing with school.  I asked my Dad how long I needed to go to school and he said “16 years.”

It seems that more and more I am hearing about kids either never leaving the nest or coming back to the nest at some point.  I know better than to say “never!”, but I have made the same message my Dad used very clear to the kids.  I don’t harp about it but as the topic comes up I make sure they know their time in my house is limited.  I’m not looking forward to their departure but I do think it is how things are meant to be in this life.  Last year, when DD was 7, she asked me “Mom do we need to move out when we are 18?”  I answered with a simple “yes.”  She followed up with, “because our parents make us?  or the police make us?”  Okay so maybe I WAS mentioning it too often!

How were your raised?  And how have you raised your kids (if you have them)?  And for those of you that have returned home or had children return home, please do share the positives (because I know there are always positives).  It is hard for me to conceptualize of them as I deal with such a full house, but I know there are positives!

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