Spring Break shopping

Looking back over my past notes, I started with 80K in debts (student loans 45000, credit cards 8000, small debts 1000, HOA fees 11000, PNC 15000) plus mortgage debt (106K). I needed to help renovate my parents house (at least 30K) and buy a newer car eventually.

In 2 years I managed to set aside 1955 a month for either debts or savings. (we paid off 24,985 in two years. In addition, we saved, $20K. That's $44,985 for debt or savings in 23 months. That's 1955 a month!)

It's been almost 4 years. The house is nearly complete. The mortgage, credit cards, and small debts are gone. PNC and HOA are cut in half. Emergency savings fund is fully funded. Student loan is stable. 

I'm ready to start investing again. I've decided to keep renting a house. Owning my own home is not important to me right now. When I buy, I want a house I love,  not just one I can afford or one that I want to buy while the price is right because I feel pressured that someone else will snatch it up before I can get it. 

My roommate plans to stay here for another year, so I plan to stay as well. 

It's spring break and yesterday I spent a lot of time shopping. It was a winning situation because I used cash from the envelopes and shopped from a list. 

I bought household supplies and food to make a specific recipe (vegetarian chicken salad). I saw a shirt I liked and grabbed it. Other than the shirt, everything else I bought was on my shopping list. Even then, I asked myself, is there another cheaper way I can make do without this? For example, I wanted a new pair of shorts to go with the shirt I bought, then I remembered that I have a set at home that will match. Saved myself 10-20 bucks. Go, me!

Today's job is to go house-shopping. I did that yesterday, too, but it was different than in the past. I wasn't eager to go inside and take a look. I'm calmer about it. I just want a contractor to give me a price and then I get started fixing it up. If the seller I'm considering is too difficult to make a deal with me, then he's not the right seller for me at this time. I'll go find other sellers. I'm not stressed out about it like I was 12 years ago. 

It feels good to be where I am today.