Happy Monday! The weekend flew by and I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d hoped. Still, we made progress on a few fronts.
On Sunday we spent time scouting neighborhoods and identified a couple of areas we both like. We have a general idea of the type of home we’re after — we’re open, but we’re drawn to older and Southern-style houses. The bigger questions are budget and whether we want to buy a move-in-ready home or a fixer-upper we can renovate ourselves. We’re also deciding between a property governed by an HOA and one with more land.
I expect this home search will take longer than when we bought our first house at 20. Everything feels more complicated this time, and nothing seems to be a perfect fit. I should probably write a dedicated post listing our must-haves and nice-to-haves so I can refer back to it as we look. What do you consider essential when buying a house? I’d love suggestions—there may be important things we’re overlooking since we plan to stay in our next home for many years.
I’m also lining up guest posts. With my student loans nearly paid off, I’m thinking of hosting a debt payoff series. If you’re interested in contributing, topics could include strategies for paying down debt quickly, different payoff methods, or perspectives on good versus bad debt. Posts should relate to debt payoff in some way.
I’ve been updating my recent post on how to start a blog, adding extra tips and clearer instructions so new bloggers won’t feel lost. I have more blogging posts in progress, including a guide to migrate from Blogger to WordPress.
Also, check out my sister’s blog, FITnancials. I’m helping run it while she focuses on writing. She’s still learning but doing well—her site recently earned a PageRank 2 after the update, which was exciting.
Spending:
We didn’t have any notable purchases this past week that I can think of.
Extra Income (does not include salary from our jobs):
For the first ten days of February I earned $1,635 from extra income sources. That figure doesn’t include a $325 payment from my sister, other expected payments, or affiliate income I haven’t yet received. Counting the $1,635 plus rent and some additional affiliate checks that have already cleared, I made about $2,420 in those first ten days.
It feels like a slow start for February, but overall I’m pleased. I’m still waiting on a few payments and hope to close them soon.
I’m focused on growing affiliate income this year—it’s a key blog goal for 2013. If you have experience with affiliate programs, I’d appreciate any tips, pitfalls to avoid, or opinions you can share.
Food:
We don’t have a formal meal plan this week, but we’ve been good about cooking at home. We did eat out a couple of times last week, but we used coupons for every visit—BOGO dinners at our favorite spots are hard to resist. It helped that it was W’s birthday; we ended up with lots of discounts and freebies.
Wedding
Wedding planning is steady but quiet right now. We picked our photographers and love the choice. There’s still plenty to organize, but I don’t feel overly rushed or stressed.
Being healthy:
Our treadmill arrived last week and we assembled it ourselves. It took about two hours, and we decided it wasn’t worth the extra $250 to hire assembly help.
One oversight was ceiling height. We measured the space but underestimated the clearance needed for certain exercises. The treadmill fits, but the ceiling is too low for pull-ups—though to be honest, I probably wouldn’t do pull-ups often. Very tall runners might have trouble; I’m 5’4″ and still have about a foot of clearance when I run.
I’ve used the treadmill twice so far but have been busy, so I’m holding myself accountable: my goal is to run five days this week, aiming for roughly five miles each session. Wish me luck.