After my husband and I were married at 22 and 23, we moved to Corpus Christi located in South Texas where my husband was stationed for flight school. Unfortunately I graduated in 2010, in the middle of the recession so finding a job in Corpus Christi in my field was impossible, especially as a military wife. At the time I had no desire to move elsewhere for a position. As a planner, I simply moved on to plan B. One of the best pieces of advice … [Read more...]
How to Read a Background Check and Credit Report
My biggest piece of advice as a landlord, one that I follow religiously as a experienced aka jaded landlord, when screening tenants, is that no one is perfect and we all have baggage. There is a reason why your tenant is renting and not buying. The key is to figure out that reason, what baggage it brings and decide if it is or is not acceptable to you as a landlord. Personally, I am am fine with bankruptcy and short sales up to a point. The … [Read more...]
While I will Not Fail, I will Stumble. Will You Catch Me?
Recently during a meeting, a wise mentor told me, "It's okay to fail. You cannot be right all the time, you, have to learn to fail with grace." I was stunned into silence. I have thought and mulled over this. He is wise, and I respect him, so he must be right. Right? But after after a while I realized he, respectfully, is wrong. I spoke to a dear friend who, while new in my life, I respect. I admire people who challenge and push me to … [Read more...]
9 Ways to Cheaply Eat Out
Follow my blog with Bloglovin The other night the hubby and I went out to Olive Garden. I was exhausted after a long week so I came home, took a nap, and when I woke up it was 8 pm. We were both hungry and well, I am not the best at quickly putting together a meal. So we decided to go out for dinner. Once at Olive Garden, we had raviolis, salad, bread sticks and even those amazing chocolate mints! It was just the two of us and it was so … [Read more...]
6 Ways to Make Your House a Home
Before I married my husband, I had only moved once in 18 years and only changed school systems twice. My old childhood room was still intact and my husband and I slep with the same decor from our high school. Then I became a Navy spouse, which was a really different experience. Since then we have moved almost once every year and with moving comes challenges. As a frugal wife, the biggest challenge for me over the years has been turning every … [Read more...]
22 Tips for a Tile Shower and Floor Remodel
My husband and I recently completed a tile shower and floor remodel. While many of our friends were on vacation, we were fixing bathroom of our rental house. The repair on the tub had failed and the tub was completely cracked to the point that replacement was the only fix. The repair was needed because the tub was not originally installed correctly by the builders. I can honestly tell you that while it wasn't our favorite way to spend our … [Read more...]
3 Ways To Fund Your Retirement Home
Our dream and the reason for our empire-building habits, is to retire early in our early 40's. Now, I am the first person to tell you I am more than a little unique. And that's probably why I am going to sound crazy when I tell you that as 20-somethings we are already well into our financial planning for our retirement. Our dream is to to send our future kids off to college, put our home on the vacation rental market, and sail off on a 42 foot … [Read more...]
Does Renting or Buying Make the Most Financial Sense?
I am an advocate of buying houses to turn into rentals. Whether they are immediately rentals or eventually become rentals later after they are lived in doesn't matter. As an empire builder of seven houses and counting, I am not only a true believer that owning lots of houses can have positive effects on your net worth. I have illustrated this many times on my blog and how personally it has allowed us to gain $400,000 in 4 years. I am also … [Read more...]
Is Buying a House with a Pool Worth the Expense?
As a cost-saving and frugally living family, we recently bought a pool. Many including my amazing spouse, thought this was a contradiction to our frugal living motto because a pool is a hole in the ground where we throw our money. But in all reality, this was the best decision we could have made. It has opened more opportunities and ideas than I had ever imagined. I see the question all the time: "Is it really worth having a pool?" In my … [Read more...]
Adjusting to a New Normal After Deployment
My husband recently came home from a 10-month deployment. I will be the first person to tell you that a 10-month deployment wasn't my first choice, but with everything in life, I've learned to make lemonade out of lemons. His deployment quickly became a positive for us. We saved $60,000, went to three port calls, traveled, saw friends and family, and made lots of new friends. I am the adoptive aunt to three amazing children and had a best … [Read more...]