Author: Doctor in Denim

small house/shop by waterfront
Paying Off Our First Rental Property

Paying Off Our First Rental Property

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How We Got Here

We’ve always had real estate as part of our retirement plan. It’s a constantly-evolving vision, as most long-term plans are. The property we just paid off is in the Chicago area and was purchased by my husband in the mid-2000’s on a 30-year mortgage.

We met in early 2010, and a year later we had decided to get married and move across the country for school. Selling the property at that time would have made zero financial sense, with the housing market still in its Great Recession death spiral. We signed on with a rental management company, packed our cars for the West Coast, and became long-distance landlords.

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Arches National Park at night
How Outdoor Adventuring Prepared Us for a Quarantine

How Outdoor Adventuring Prepared Us for a Quarantine

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that much of the world has recently been under various degrees of stay-at-home orders, lock-downs, and quarantines.

The major disruption in our area has lasted about 6-8 weeks (so far). While this is far from ideal and not nearly as fun as being on a 6-week-long outdoor adventure, I’m pleased to report that our many years of backpacking, trail running, skiing, etc. in the great outdoors has left us better prepared for this than one might expect.

Here’s why:

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Light display at Home Depot
Our Costs for Furnishing a 5-Bedroom House

Our Costs for Furnishing a 5-Bedroom House

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You’re here for the numbers, so we’ll dive right in.

This is for a 5-bedroom, 3 bath home that has a “main house” and a “casita”. Total square footage is just shy of 3,000. The property essentially has 2 full kitchens (the only thing that makes the “kitchenette” not a real kitchen is it has no oven – everything else is the same as what you’d find in a full-size size, fully stocked kitchen). There are two laundry rooms as well as two living rooms; we put large entertainment centers and 65-inch smart TVs in both.

I’ve noted brands/suppliers when I can remember them. All costs are rounded up.

Furniture (Designs West): $8,805

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Furnishing a Vacation Rental Without Losing Your Mind

Furnishing a Vacation Rental Without Losing Your Mind

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The end of our Sedona Building Project is in sight! All the furniture is in. Kitchens are fully stocked. I’ve spent hours if not days washing towels and linens to get rid of that plastic-and-packaging smell. The wall art is en route, due to arrive in a few days.

And somehow, despite the dire predictions of what a giant building project would do to our sanity and our marriage, we’re still (mostly) having fun with it.

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road through snowy trees
2019 Spending Recap for Our Family of 4

2019 Spending Recap for Our Family of 4

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After tracking our spending down the penny in 2018, I gave myself a break so we could focus on paying off my student debts, getting our business debt well under control, and finishing our first investment build.

(We still rely on the magic of the the non-budget when it comes to managing our spending.)

However, it’s still very important to me that we’re honest with ourselves about where our money’s going.

With December widely regarded as the most expensive month on the calendar, tracking our spending in detail this month seemed like a good call. With these numbers, we can do some quick comparisons to 2018 to get an idea what we spent in all of 2019 as well as solidify our financial goals for 2020.

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