Contentment

I can sit here and honestly say that I am content with everything that Todd and I own and what we have done to improve our relationship with one another. That’s not to say there aren’t any things that I wouldn’t mind completed (like the house projects!), but I am content with how far we’ve gotten in the 3 ½ years since we moved in.

I would love to travel more, but this year, we really cut back.  There were no extravagant week-long vacations to a tropical island or two.  Instead, we had a few 3-4 day weekends out of town, used a gift certificate for one of them which cost us $14 out of pocket to stay overnight in the woods in a beautiful log cabin.  Another, we went to Washington DC to visit a friend of mine, staying the night at her house and eating out only once a day.

When people walk into our house, they oooh and aaaw about some the items we own.  Guess what?  We are cheap frugal! We buy items from garage sales, flea markets and auctions.  We get a lot of free furniture from his father who worked for a storage facility.  He would pick up items that people were throwing out and either keep them himself or give them to us.  Our kitchen lamp was a free find from Todd’s father. 

The only large furniture item we have purchased new since we’ve been married is our mattress.  Instead of getting a cheap one (as we both had before,) we got one that is top of the line from a local mattress company.  We couldn’t be happier. 

Somehow, because we merged my home with his, and then added from his parents and mine, everything all works out in our home! 

It is not just our home that I’m content with, but even our vehicles.  After getting married, Todd purchased a large conversion van, and then bought a beater car because it cost so much in gas for the van.  We replaced both vehicles with his 2008 Kia Rondo.  This is the vehicle I have been chipping away at the balance part of this year.  And my beautiful Bianca, she has over 108,000 miles on her, but I wouldn’t even WANT another vehicle.  I want to drive her until she doesn’t drive any more.  I don’t even think about what other car I’d want to own.  Bianca is perfect for me. I’ve been spoiled with her.  She is fuel efficient, inexpensive to maintain, reliable, and not to mention, ADORABLE!

Our neighborhood – I love where we live.  We live in a Township, just 3 blocks away from being “in town.”  This means no public water, and no natural gas, but it also means there is a little bit of land around us.  We live on a dead-end street with just 3 houses on it.  We own two of the three houses.  The last house is an 80 year old woman who lives about a half acre away.  Across the street – all trees.  Needless to say, it is extremely quiet where we live, until the wolves start to howl.  Yes, there is a family that owns 3 wolves, and they howl some nights.  The neighbor behind us used to own a deer.  Only in Newton Falls can you find wolves, deer and pigs within a country block.

So, all in all, life is good.  We don’t make anywhere near six figures, but we are happy.  We don’t like our jobs, but we know that we are taking the right steps to financial freedom where we can one day say “see ya later!” and find more fulfilling positions closer to home.  I think we are on the right track.