“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.” – Ellen Goodman… Now, that doesn’t sound much like the American Dream that we all imagine, does it? Definitely not my idea of happiness. After losing my job while I was on maternity leave a couple of years ago, I had to make a lot of changes in life – I had to find ways to cut down my bills, simplify my life, and chart a new path. That led to buying a house with my mom instead of saving to buy one on my own. {Yep, we like each other well enough to live together. Almost all of the time… Lol.} It led to me starting this site, and finding freelance work online instead of going back into retail management. It meant selling some of our unneeded things, cutting back on things like cable and nights out, and cutting more coupons. But – without ever meaning to, these changes are leading me to actually finally get closer to my ideal life. My version of the American Dream – I get to work from home, spend time with Abby, have flexibility when I need it, and am my own boss. Sure, I’d love to make the income that I made running retail stores, but I’m happier here at home.
What would your perfect home be like?
The house that I bought with my mom isn’t my “perfect” home, but it truly is pretty great. It sits on a really big piece of property, with a covered patio, 4-bay shop, fenced yard for Abby to play, and an in-ground pool that quickly became the gathering spot for all of our friends and family each summer. There’s enough space for us all to be comfortable, and I even have a guest bedroom for when friends come into town to visit. The house isn’t huge, but it’s cozy, it’s got what we need, and it makes me happy. And, our untraditional living arrangement really works well for us. It started out with more of my family living with me too – which was a little bit crazy for a couple of years. But I love that Abby has gotten to grow up so close to her grandma, cousins, and uncle James. And I’m lucky that we all get along well enough to have made the situation work, so that I’m able to get by on a smaller income while I build my business. I’m so grateful that when life gets tough, I have a great home filled with amazing family to rely on!
American Dream – How to Build Your Dream Home on a FREE Piece of Land
My dream, ever since I was a little girl, was to build my own house someday. {I also wanted to be an architect, and would draw out my perfect floorplans and stuff all the time…} I love the idea of creating something that’s just exactly what I want – unlike when you are looking at homes, and have to find one that’s “almost” perfect to settle for. We still sometimes dream about this – but honestly, I wasn’t even sure how we’d get started. I recently was introduced to this really cool option by a friend of mine – It’s called LandCentral. They make it easy to buy your own piece of land without a ton of money down, to build on now, or as an investment for your future. And – the coolest thing about it all is that to help introduce their program to more people, they are doing a giveaway where one amazingly lucky winner will get to choose their own TOTALLY FREE piece of land in one of five states! Can you even imagine? To enter, visit LandCentral.com. It only takes a few minutes, and could lead to an amazing opportunity for you and your family!
Click through – then look for the sidebar box that looks like this to click and enter to win!
What would YOU do with a free piece of land? Build a dream home? Build a vacation cabin? Save it to pass down to your kids? Leave me some comments!
{Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation for this post. I seriously love LandCentral and what they can offer you, and wanted to share this fantastic giveaway with you. I hope one of you win this – Good luck! Photo Credit one: Jeffweese. Photo Credit two: Jeda Villa Bali – both on Flickr Creative Commons.}
