Today is my absolute favorite day of the entire year. I’ll be spending the next few days neck deep in all that is Christmas. I’m excited to see how Maria is tomorrow morning (hyped up beyond words I expect). I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas spending quality time with those who you love. Merry Christmas!

This past weekend as mommy was nursing a bit of a Christmas cheer hangover, kiddo and I cuddled up on the couch to watch a little TV. Maria has a few of her favorite shows and most of them I don’t mind, but there are some really, really terrible shows geared at young kids. Some so bad I have to wonder how they ever got approval to air. Anyway, while we were watching a marathon episode of one of her favorite shows, Peppa Pig (which, unfortunately has taught her to start talking in a British accent) I became suddenly interested.

The episode was about the little pig family spending the day together and deciding to go for a drive in the family car. When the family piles into the car the kids comment on how much they love their family car, just in time for the car to break down and stop working. The family drops the broken car off at the garage and the mechanic gives them a ‘’brand new car’’ to drive while he fixes theirs for the day.

The family is intrigued with all that the new rental car offers. They love the fancy buttons that their old car doesn’t have and are having fun driving around in it…until it starts raining and they can’t figure out how to put the convertible top back up, causing everyone to get soaked. At the end of the day, they drop the rental car back off and pick up their car. The kids immediately note how much they enjoy their ‘’old car’’ and that, after their experience that day, realize they don’t need a new one despite how nice and shiny it was.

The other point that the show touched on was that new isn’t always better. This is something I also try and live by. The ‘’if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it rule’’. When Maria does come to us and say she wants something (often a new toy, and often similar to things she already has), we try and have her understand why she doesn’t need it furthering the discussion between wants and needs. It’s ok to want things, we all do, but to a three year old, everything is on a level of need.

This is a lesson that is really hard for kids to learn. I see it in my own daughter too. Though she has things which she loves, there are times she wants more or wants something new, often unnecessarily. This issue is magnified this time of year. The new, shiny and better things are everywhere, tantalizing everyone, children especially. It is nice to have a show, geared at the youngest of kids demonstrating to be happy with what you have. Thank you Peppa and George.

Debt sucks. You work hard for your money and watching it go to someone else is no fun. The only thing worse than debt is when you’re in debt and not in control of it. I’ve been there once and I never want to go back. I had just graduated and got married and had yet to face the reality that was (mostly my) debt. My husband brought a small amount into the marriage but by comparison to me, peanuts.

We were making the minimum payments but never came up with a plan to pay it off, we were incredibly stressed out. To add to it all we now had a baby on the way and I was about to go on maternity leave (with significant reduced income). We came up with a plan and I’m happy to say we’re making great progress. Along the way there have been many amazing side effects from paying our debt off.

Emotional Well Being

There is an indescribable feeling that comes with having full control over your money. When you finally know how much is coming in and going out, is an amazingly peaceful feeling. The anxiety goes away. Though it’s never fun sitting down for that first time to calculate debt owing, it’s necessary and brings a total calm with it when you finally know. As you start paying your debt down it just feels good, an accomplishment that you can see as you log into your accounts.

You Have More of Your Money

As your debt is paid off, more of your money is actually yours. Now that we paid off one of our large loans, we can finally work on saving to buy a second car that we desperately need. We’re still working on our remaining debts but we have the flexibility of taking care of something that our family needs as well, and it feels amazing.

You Appreciate What You Have

When you’re not in a situation to drop a wad of cash on new clothes for example, you appreciate what you have much more. You become resourceful too. There were times we may have needed something but many times we made do without whatever it was. Though we have never embarked on a deliberate no-spend challenge, we have lived these last few years really only buying things we literally need, there have been very few wants. Even once the debt is gone, are we have more disposable income, I know our appreciation for things (including our money), will stay. We will forever be conscious consumers, never a bad quality.

Being in debt can be down right terrifying and paying it off is required. It isn’t all bad though, there are many positive effects that come when you pay your debts off that can be hard to imagine when you’re at the beginning but ask anyone who’s already started, or already succeeded and they will confirm that facing your debts will be one of the best decisions you ever make.

What was the best thing that came from paying you debt off?

Source: Free Digital Photos

I admit that though we’re a few years away from moving, I waste far too much time perusing the local real estate market. Consider it homework. I’ve said it before but this house is far too small for our family. We will probably bring another child home in this current house but will need to move before the kid needs their own space since we really only have two dedicated sleep rooms (third bedroom is necessary home office space which Mike uses for work). I have no issue with kids sharing a room, especially while young, but this is only one reason on a big list why we need to move, and so, I obsessively search the local listings to see what we may want when time comes.

Though we don’t love our current location there are quite a few perks to living where we do such as proximity to childcare (daycare and family), great school zone, convenient for amenities and we’re a decent location for family visits, which we love. We however crave much more privacy (not an option anywhere near our current house, regardless of price range), more storage space (indoors and out), and a neighborhood with more kids (a lot of retirees in our area despite great school zoning).

Though we love a lot of ‘non-negotiable’ items about our current house (schools, family), we’re not against totally picking up and moving within, I’d say, a 45 minute radius of where we currently live which is one of the reasons we’re looking now, so in a few years we have a better idea of areas we’d like to narrow our search.

The issue I’m finding though, is deciding if I’d like my dream house (a term I use loosely) or stay within my dream budget.

I like where our numbers are at now (especially as debt decreases and our wages continue to increase). Though we could comfortably afford it when the time comes, I really don’t know if I want to increase our mortgage by $500-$600 per month. I know it will go up when we move, for no reason other than there’s an 80% chance we’ll move to an area with increased property taxes (we’re currently crazy low for the area we live) but I like the idea of keeping our mortgage and property tax payment lower than $600 per month difference.

Accepting a $500-$600 per month increase would definitely get us the house we want, and need, with quite a few options to choose from. My homework is showing me that less than this (predicted) increase and we’re looking at older homes that will require a decent amount of work. Though this isn’t always the case, $500 seems to be the threshold between finding a home we could move in and be immediately happy in, and finding a home with the space we need and maybe even the location we want, but requiring quite a bit of work.

Obviously there are ways to decrease this dollar difference, we could save longer for a larger down payment. Realistically by the time we’re done paying our debt off, have another kid and oldest starting school (I don’t want to move her once she’s too established), time won’t be on our side. I’m not completing all the above and then saving for another 18-24 months, I’ll just be honest. We will be gone within three years. If the housing market remains the same that it is, we won’t get anywhere near what I’d like for our current home too, a fact I’m bracing to accept.

So as I continue to play imaginary number games, I’m curious, would you rather have the dream house (great location, layout, school, mostly move-in-ready with 1-2 young kids and working full-time) OR get a home that you may not love but works better for your budget? (Again, it’s not even a matter or affordability, we could comfortably do it, I think I’d rather just have more money for other stuff, stuff I can’t even define right n0w, probably travel??).