One and only goal for 2013

Welcome to my first real post of 2013.  I posted my stats page but I’d be surprised if anyone actually reads those.  This post won’t be about resolutions or the New Year in general because essentially, I don’t keep resolutions very well and have learned not to make them.  There are things I want to get better at but it has nothing to do with the new year, they are just changes that I need to make.  I probably only have 1 real goal for 2013 and that is to be in a house.  The sooner the better.

For those that don’t know our story, my wife (then girlfriend) lived in Virginia before moving up here.  When she moved up here, we moved into government housing because it was one of the few places that we could get a 4 bedroom apartment.  Plus between the 2 of us, we had 4 kids and I was the only one working so we needed the assistance.  Here we are, almost 3 years later, still in those apartments.  We are no longer receiving government aid and haven’t for awhile now so we aren’t staying here for the help, but more because we don’t want to make multiple moves.  So we decided to stay here until we found a permanent home.  We hate moving plus we have no desire to keep switching places with the kids.  They get enough of that from theEx, she has moved multiple times in the last couple of years.  The apartment is nice, don’t get me wrong.  They aren’t very old and we like the location but I send my kids to a different school district so that means we have to drive and pick them up from school.  Which is a pain in the ass, especially now that they are getting older and doing after school activities.  Samantha has been in basketball for the last month or so and it’s a pain because we pick Trevor up at 2:20 then go back at 3:30 to get Samantha after practice.  It would be nice to live in the same district so the kids could just ride the bus to and from.

When we moved in here, Cheri was already getting financial aid and my name wasn’t on it so they would only give us a 3 bedroom because it was her and her 2 kids.  It was fine once Skyler headed off to college because both kids got their own room, but now that she’s back, they have to share a room again and it sucks.  We don’t like making them share but we’re not going to let a daughter live on the streets either.

We went to a lender a few months ago to see what we could do.  His advice was to pay off 4 things still on my credit report.  2 of those theEx stuck me with because she never paid them.  Including a van repossessed after we split.  It was in my name so I have to pay it and I have been for the last couple of years.  But I set it up to only pay $25/week at the time because I was broke so it’ll take awhile to pay.  I’ve paid off the other 3 but am still working on the van.  He also said I need to establish more positive credit so I think I’m going to get a loan, pay off the van, and then pay off the loan.  Kind of a 2 birds with 1 stone kind of thing.

We are looking at a local school district that we want.  It’s not the kids current district but they’ve already got 6 cousins in this school district and they both play baseball/softball in the district so they already know some of the kids as well.  We are looking for at least a 3 bedroom house with a finished basement that Skyler can make a room for herself in or a 4 bedroom.  We want a ranch style house because the stairs here kick our ass, especially Cheri’s with all her medical issues.  If she’s having a flare up, the stairs really kick her ass.  We would like to have a basement (preferably finished) but it’s not a must if there is enough bedrooms.  Cheri would also like to have counter space in the kitchen, that’s really all we are looking for.

We will both be 40 by this summer and neither of us have ever owned a house.  I kind of feel like a failure because of that.  So my goal for 2013 is to provide a stable home for our kids.  A place where I know we’ll live for many years to come.