At the time we were coming up on our two-year anniversary, we had a 10 month old daughter and I was newly pregnant with our second baby.
We left school for a summer internship that year. We also left our 500 sq. ft. apartment to move into one that was almost 900 sq. ft. It was like someone upgraded us from a motel 8 to a five star hotel!
Once we got settled in, my visiting teachers stopped by to say hi. They sat down, looked around and kindly asked, “So, is the rest of your stuff in storage?”
I remember looking around the room.
They sat on the one and only couch we had and I sat in the glider we bought on sale just before our fist child was born.
On one wall stood a small computer desk we got for 5o% off and on it sat my computer I had bought before we were married.
On another wall, sitting on top of some wood boards my husband had screwed together back in high school, sat a 20” TV, a gift from a family friend. On either side of the TV stood a small, skinny bookcase I had swiped from my mom before I left for college.
In the kitchen stood a plastic folding table and some chairs given to us for our wedding.
I thought of our daughter’s room. She had just barely graduated from a pack n’ play to a crib. My mother-in-law got it for us from a family she knew who was tossing it out because it was broken.
Turning back to my sweet visiting teachers, I smiled and replied, “Nope, this is it!”
Now, four and a half years later, if you were to come to my house today you would see a single couch in the living room, a little worn with a popped seam or two. A glider, its seat and arms picked and peeled by little fingers. A 20” TV that sits on top of some wooden boards screwed together by my husband, and two skinny bookcases, trying to look majestic by standing side by side.
You would find a plastic folding table in our kitchen, as well as a broken crib that sits in our basement, replaced by a slightly nicer broken crib. You would find a small computer desk that holds a 7-year old computer.
You would also find four kids. Two sleeping on mattresses on the floor, one in a broken crib and one in the pack n’ play.
BUT, all these things would be found in a new house with a garage that holds two vehicles. In our unfinished basement, you would find a small but slowly growing food storage.
Three school degrees, four kids, and one major cranial surgery later, we have a savings account and no debt other than our house.
Every once in a while, I get a little embarrassed when people come over and hope they don’t judge us. I wish I had new couches. I wish I had a pretty dining room set. I wish I had cute bedroom furniture for the kids.
And we will someday, we are working towards it, just not today.
Everyone’s situations are different. But right now, for our little family, I’m enjoying our financial piece of mind.
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Serene is a mom of four kids in four and a half years who loves chocolate, art, and high heels. She blogs over at Serene is my name, not my life!
