It’s been a while since my last post. I don’t like going that long in between posts, but I’m sure you all understand that my life has been a little busy this past month. So here’s a catch-up!
Kevin and I are settling very nicely into our new life here in Nevada. When I last posted, I was living out of my suitcase, stuck in the rainy northwest, waiting for my new life to start. A lot has changed since then!
I was fortunate enough to get a new job right away. This was the first job I applied to, the first and only one I interviewed for, and luckily it was my first choice. I’m back in a classroom teaching preschool. I couldn’t be happier about that! It was a bit stressful at first starting my new job because I started working only a few days after we returned from Washington, leaving us very little time to get our lives together here. We needed to find 2 cars and a place to live and we only had a week to do it. We learned that Vegas is different than Michigan, and we were going to have to re-evaluate the way we live our lives on a budget. In Michigan, we had it down. We lived in an older apartment with cheap rent, in a nice safe community. We drove older used cars with no car payments and cheap car insurance. Once we started our search here in Las Vegas, we quickly learned that we would have to change our ways in order to save money in the long run. The apartments were not what we were looking for and were overpriced. The used cars were junk and Craigslist took us to some pretty shady parts of town.
After 2 days of being extremely let down with our findings, we had to seriously re-think our plan, or at least Kevin did, I just supported him. We ended up getting pretty lucky. After a fire alarm at the, oh so lovely airport hotel we were staying at, (I could not wait to get out of that place) woke us up at 3 in the morning, Kevin did some major searching online for places to live. He ended up finding the perfect condo for us, in a great area, right in our price range. We ended up getting the place and moving in only a few days later. (The landlord was extremely impressed with Kevin’s great credit.) As for our cars, we ended up doing something we never thought we would do. We went to the Ford dealership and leased 2 of the cheapest, most practical cars they had. Now we have monthly car payments, but after our horrible car repairs back in Michigan, (we were way to close of friends with our local mechanic) it’s worth it to have the peace of mind of a full factory warranty on our vehicles.
In no way is moving cheap. It’s the most money that we have ever spent all at once, besides paying off my student loans. The thing is that we wouldn’t have been able to do this entire move without our saving these past few years. We lived small, spent small and saved big. Now we are finally getting to feel the benefits of our savings. I’m grateful to be married to an over-planner.
I have to say that our move has had it’s ups and downs, but in the end it’s been a great experience. It definitely has brought Kevin and I closer together and made us a stronger couple.
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| Kevin and I on Valentine’s Day at Red Rock Canyon |
As for Thrifty Wife, Happy Life, I’m searching everyday for new ways to save money in my new life. My wardrobe post will be changing a bit, due to the weather and the casual dress code at my new job, but I still plan to make the weekly post…. once I adjust to my new job of course. I’ve been really into cooking in my new kitchen, so look for some recipes soon. Of course, I’ll be shopping soon and looking for some fabulous deals (once I recover a little from the expensive of my move). There are 3 thrift stores down the road that I can’t wait to check out and I have all my favorite stores close by, including Target! I can’t wait to do some shopping at new stores like Ross and Nordstrom Rack, which I didn’t have back home. I should have plenty of things to blog about. I can’t wait to share!
Amazing! I know nothing about traveling all over the country, what a wonderful looking place to explore.