I am so stoked to show everyone what we have done in the first part of our remodeling journey. We started with the Master Bedroom and Bath that was totally unlivable when we bought this house. We had been sleeping in the second bedroom which is our daughters room and it was big enough to hold our queen sized bed, three cribs, a huge dresser, and changing table/dresser. It was comfortable and I did not mind it at all being that we have always all slept in the same bedroom and I could not imagine having it any other way. The thing is, this room has no closet (which we are going to build) and when we stripped the master that had an 11′ x 3′ closet we brought out the rod and rod brackets and get this…hung our clothes in the living room. Yes, for a few months our clothes were hanging in our living room. Can you imagine that sight? It was quite annoying, but totally necessary and temporary so it didn’t bother me too much.

I know there is a stigma behind manufactured housing that paints a picture of trashy people living in them. Its a very shallow way of thinking and unfortunately people just have that opinion of them and would never be caught dead living in one much less actually purchasing one. I have never really cared or thought anything less of a person who lived in one. My father does (on 5 acres) and in my early teenage years when I moved in with him have lived in a single-wide. So, I guess I am biased in my opinion of them. My husband on the other hand lived in one back when he was a child, but the last home he owned was in a suburban neighborhood, 3,000 + sq. ft., 5 bedrooms, 2 car garage and pool. He would have never thought of living in a manufactured house. He also became a salesman for manufactured housing so working in that field helped change his perception on them.

The life we have chosen to live comes with sacrifice and compensation. In order for me to be a stay at home mom of three children and achieve our goals of being financially free (for the most part) we had to make decisions that would support them. One of the things we don’t see ourselves doing anytime soon or ever for that matter is buying a new car. Its a financial hole we would be putting ourselves in and a waste of money for something that loses value the instant it is driven off the lot. We have a 2001 model F-250 Superduty that has worked well for us and is everything we need. We had a 1998 Toyota Tacoma but it was totaled in the freak accident my poor husband was in. Both vehicles were bought and paid for used with absolutely no debt attached to them. The truck has over 200k miles on it and is reliable. We keep up with maintenance when the time comes, my husband is pretty good with making sure everything is checked and changed on a regular basis. A new vehicle with debt attached would completely throw us on a downward spiral financially. There is just too much to be done here and that would put a total halt on all our goals.

With all of that said, being here now and doing the work we have been doing has been such a fun journey for us. My husband gets to learn new skills that will become very useful for us out here, I get to learn how to use power tools and help him along the way (woohoo!). This is our future and we are embracing every challenge, struggle, sacrifice, and welcoming it all with open arms and open hearts.

My sweet sweet husband just gifted me a new desktop for my little craft/sew/desk area (totally using it now ;D). I am currently transferring all of the pictures I have taken of our work in the house so that I can finally start sharing them here! CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE!

Until next time!

-Cristina