Somehow Jeffrey and I haven't adapted to our usual fall routine, wherein we both work late twice a week, and also put in Sunday work hours. I'm not sure why we're not jumping back into formation, but we *have* been making time to do things we enjoy, so that we're not always slogging away at the grindstone. After work hours we play cards, I've been going to a knitting class, and we've been busy practically every Thursday for a month with something else (more on that in a bit). Doing this has actually translated into even more late nights in Des Moines, and we've found that our commute has become more burdensome than ever. And it's not even winter yet!
That brings me to our Thursday jaunts. We've been house-hunting, in Des Moines (that's the Thursday night activity) We've seen some really spooky-bad houses, as we've tried to find a home in a neighborhood that's 1: not scary, 2: is convenient for our jobs, and 3: is affordable. It's been kind of fun, looking at all the different kinds of homes people make. We finally found one that might be workable, although it has its share of problems.
The biggest problem is scraping up a down payment when our own house isn't ready to sell. Before you try to convince me what a very bad idea it is to buy a house when you still owe on another, I might tell you that our current house payment is less than a car payment. Anybody's car payment. One realtor even suggested that we keep our small-town abode as a weekend home (!!!!), and it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. But hey, in this market, you never know!
So, we have had to do a rethinking of our budget. With so many extra hours away from home, it's become very difficult to cook on a regular basis. Yet- we have to start to make better attempts to do this, because we have to save every penny we can, and eating out is expensive (and not very interesting to read about on a cooking blog!).
So, I give you tonight's dinner: Grilled cheese sandwiches and a Caesar salad. Neither of which require recipes.
Our food budget has room for drastic cuts, and now we've got excellent motivation to do so. I would love to read your suggestions for low cost meals. Please help?
Thanks!
Juli
Good luck with the house hunt. With an hour each way, it adds up not to mention the costs. I'm back into 12 hour days again but I have a 15 minute commute. I'm trying to get a post a week now but just missed a 10 day stretch. A daily post one like you have been doing is a pace that nobody can maintain. A psychotherapist might have a term for it like obsessive-blogging behavior.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is a huge difference in housing costs in Des Moines vs Knoxville. The rest of the world would not believe it.
Thanks, Dr Dan! OBD (Obsessive Blogging Disorder)- made me crack up! Your schedule sounds even worse than ours, which only includes 2 12-hour days. Then again, our weekly hours on the road add up to 12 hours. Bleah.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there is an ENORMOUS difference in housing costs in Des Moines versus the Knoxville area. We'd literally have to pay 4 times as much to buy a similar house! Thankfully, we don't need a big house anymore and can downsize. I'm hoping our "life quality" will go up when we have those 12 hours back!
-Juli