Saving For That Rainy Day.

Our homes, piggy banks or financial quicksand?

Now and again we hear comments such as; 

      " You should have rather moved into a flat and not a big house,

 seeing that you don't fix it up properly. "

Fair enough, hurtful but subjective after all. Our house has been fixed up ( by us and blood sweat & tears ) on the inside but the outside and our numerous outbuildings have not been seen to. At first it was a sheer lack of money and then, reason prevailed.

Granted, Bob and I are both lacking that handy-man gene but now that I started to think about it, I am glad we don't have it. Imagine how much money we would have buried in our home? Those comments do hurt but then I am so jolly glad that we aren't obsessed about the aesthetics of our home and more importantly, constantly doing up stuff to either impress or silence the neighbours. Weekends are here to unwind and slogging it away week in and out in some form of home improvement isn't for us.

Bob and I love our house and feel absolutely happy in it except for those times when folks drop their little verbal zingers about the way we choose to live.

A house is an investment but even then one needs to differentiate how much to invest in it . It costs a lot of money to buy, but to upkeep it to societal standards costs even more. But why would one throw money down that never ending well of home improvements? A house is a house and not our life. There might come a time when it is necessary to move elsewhere and then, the return of all the money invested is not guaranteed. Especially in our neck of the woods. 

A friend of ours who was an estate agent in our area, told me a while ago that people are crazy to build such big houses or put so much into refurbishing houses, because unless you find a person with oodles of dosh and no sense, you never ever get your investment back. Yes, money wasted to have a home friends and family approve of.

Bob and I are thankfully on the same page and have not fallen into the honey trap of zero interest money  in order to renovate and redecorate. Even if  the interest is low, one still has to pay back the capital and admin fees. No, not for us but so many have taken it up and coupled with a car on tick, a credit card overdrawn and fading tans of overseas holidays, there could be many who are sitting in their show homes with empty fridges, sleepless nights and while praying for life to return to normal.

Yes, that rainy day we were reminded about so often by our parents and grandparents ( and honestly never really believed in ) has sadly arrived and caught many by surprise...the irony is that the supposed investment of one's own home won't sell quick enough to pay the overdue bills and in a recession like we are in now there is going to be a glut of houses on the market which lowers the value more and more.

Biggi