Getting started

So the other night, as we were eating dinner on our deck, I said to my husband, "Let's try something different. I want to set a goal. I want to accomplish something." That was my opener on the subject of the vacation home. It's been a dream of ours since before we were even married, just barely into our 20's, to own a home on Cape Cod. When you're young, anything seems possible - and it should be. But life gets in the way - low paying jobs out of college, the costs of city living, student loans, buying your first car, taking vacations we couldn't totally afford. All these things added up to living slightly beyond our means, which means, no savings. Luckily we were able to buy our first home with the help of our parents. And because of a great profit on our the sale of our first home, we were able to build our pefect house. We plan to stay in it, God-willing for many years to come.

We work hard and we've been lucky. But we've realized that its going to take more than luck to accomplish, what I like to say is "the only other thing I really want in life" - the purchase of a vacation home. So I think I've come up with a plan. I said to my husband, "this is it, we're going all out - balls to the wall (excuse my crassness) - cutting back our spending and getting that house in the next 18 months." He agreed. Actually what he said is that he'd have no problem sticking to a plan like that, I'd be the problem. In my defense, this truly is the thing that I want most, so if I can't make sacrifices to get it, I'm going to be really disappointed in myself. We're going to do it.

I think that the process will be interesting. I'm hoping that we learn a lot and I'm hoping that the end result is a positive one. I've been feeling the desire to write about something lately, and this "journey" seems like a ripe subject. So here it goes. Welcome aboard.