I don’t know if I would call myself a planner. Definitely a dreamer, but less confidence on the planner. Sometimes a brain gremlin will escape and I’ll end up with half finished bookshelves in my garage or a computer simulation of a human powered flying machine. I’ve been thinking about trying this planning thing out. All of my friends live in town. I work in town these days too. My commute is 40 minutes on a good day and over an hour on bad days. Each way. I love my house but it is far and I would like for it to be near. So, what if I decided to start saving to buy a house in town? I could figure out how much I needed and put that away over a few years and then move right?
If it were simple it wouldn’t be me; it wouldn’t have that intrinsic me-ness. Here are the problems.
- My house is paid off. Not having a house payment is super awesome and it will be sad to have one again.
- I like the fact that my house is “new”. Plumbing and electric have improved since the the 70’s and anyone who says different is trying to sell you something (a 40 y/o house probably).
- Stuff in town is expensive. Selling my house wouldn’t buy me an unimproved lot in most of the neighborhoods I like.
- I like pretty things. I would like a house that is interesting but still functional.
- I want a garage AND a workshop. This thing where I have to move cars to tinker with stuff is bullshit. My unicorn must also have wings.
- I also want a house that is efficient in terms of electricity, water and gas use.
A person who is a planner would figure out the cost of building a reasonably sized house with the necessary features in an acceptable part of “in town”, decide how much house payment was tolerable and from that how much money needed to be saved. Then such a person would determine how much money could be saved balancing quality of life from available dollars and quality of life from spending two whole weeks per year driving to and from work (1.5 hrs * 5 days * 48(ish) weeks = 360hrs = 2.14 weeks).
I’ve been telling my friends I’m on the five-year plan, but clearly that’s crap because there is no plan. I have, however, obtained the Employee Direct Deposit Enrollment Form to change the amount that goes to savings. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to save one way or the other but I’ve been thinking it would be good to make an actual plan and commit to it. Shows responsibility, maturity, that sort of thing. Alternatively I could put a zip line between the office and home.
This will at least be an opportunity for me to collect pretty house pictures.