The excitement of owning NEW big-ticket purchases (like a new house or new car) wears off quickly when the bills start coming in. We start to reconsider if the purchase is worth the long haul to pay it off. Was there something else we could have done from the start?

At different times in our life, we just need a change in our environment and sometimes think one way to change that is to buy a new house. The alternative they gave was to renovate your current home. Some new wallpaper/ paint or some throw pillows on your couch instead of a whole new set of furniture. We recently went through the things we’ve collected and passed on things we had too much of or our family had outgrown. This gave us more space to feel not as crowded. We also painted one color throughout the house to make it easier to match things in the house. The house felt so much cleaner after that. Next on our list is getting the carpets cleaned to give us another feeling of bettering our environment. It is an ongoing process.

Occasionally we find items that we can purchase at a fraction of the cost by purchasing from such places as a dollar store instead of from a specialty store. In some cases, it’s a great buy, but in other cases, it would be better to go to the specialty store. Quality is sometimes compromised to provide a product at a cheaper cost and so, in the long run, we would end up spending more because of having to replace the item every time it broke down.