Getting Stranger Every Day

We’ve begun putting our plan to buy a second home into effect this month.  Our house is rented out, and we’ve moved into a travel trailer to save money and pay off our ridiculous credit card bills.  After about a year, we should be able to afford a second mortgage so that we can buy (and move into) a new house while still renting out the house we have.  Real estate investing seems to be the way to go if we want to make an extra income without having to work too hard.

Right now, we are waiting for my partner’s bankruptcy to fall off his credit report.  He has an excellent credit score, but past bankruptcy makes it hard for him to get a good mortgage rate.   Fortunately, we were able to get a small loan for the trailer from our local bank, but I know we won’t get a mortgage right now — not one we could afford anyway.

So for now, we’re settled in our trailer and really enjoying the experience.   This may be the strangest thing we’ve ever done (or not!), but it sure is fun!

I’ve never wanted to deal with the day to day hassle of running my own business, but I have a friend who loves what she does.  She has a small shop selling hippie and progressive type things, things like funny t-shirts and bumper stickers, jewelry, incense, and other little things.  I know why she likes it.  She attracts a great clientele of funny and like-minded people and gets to be surrounded by things and people she enjoys.  I like being there as well!  But she also has to do a lot of work to keep her store open, and I don’t think I could do the same.

When she first opened, I helped my friend research her business options.  I helped her to learn about advertising and I think I even pointed her in the direction of Northern Sun, where she buys most of her products.  I bailed out when it came to the nitty gritty things like banking and credit card processors because while I know all about hippie culture and had no trouble at all telling her where to advertise and what to buy, I know nothing about business.  I’m not exactly a capitalist.

Instead, I told her to get some business advice from an expert.  She ended up reading some great articles and finding a few friends who knew what they were doing to guide her, and she’s been very successful.  She was even able to hire a part-time helper this year, which is a huge thing for her.  It means she actually gets some time off now! 

It’s been a dream of mine for a few years now to experience living all over the country, and possibly even the world.  There are so many places I want to try out — Maine, Kentucky, California, Seattle, Portland, Virginia Beach, and New York City, to name a few here in the United States.  Abroad, I would love to experience living in Canada, England, and Australia.  Born and raised here, never having had the chance to try out anywhere else, I love the idea of staying in one place for a year or so, and then moving along to a new spot.

Of course relocating is not cheap.  Even with the best deals on movers, it’s just not feasible to move every year.  Not to mention the work of packing and unpacking in each new place!  Being a nomad is just not affordable for the average person — and while I’m anything but average, financially, I’m stuck here for awhile longer.

Once we sell our house and save up some money, we are going to make a local move for a couple more years.  Then, we will finally be ready for a cross country move.  At least I’m no longer a business owner — corporate relocation is probably far more costly than residential moving. 

I have been investigating areas for our next big move and it looks like my top choices are out for now.  We are seriously thinking of finding a big plot of land in Idaho, where some friends are from, and we have found some great properties online at landandfarm.com.  I suppose we will have to make a few trips out there first to make sure we like the area — and if there’s one thing this nomad girl loves, it’s traveling!!