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How Your Lifestyle Can Be Compromised By Buying A Home You Cannot Afford
You have now moved into a home you thought was within in your budget. Now you find out, you miscalculated. These things occur so often these days that it almost seem like a new social blurp trending on Twitter. And although you might see the lighter side of this initially, pretty soon, you will realise just how big of a mess you have got yourself into. This is likely to compromise the lifestyle you had intended for yourself. That is the easy part. The tough part is the feeling of guilt by putting your family, the people you love the most, through this ordeal just because you didn’t find out how to properly work out a budget in the first place.
Most people buy a house with a spouse or significant other. And the biggest thing that couples argue about is money. You might choose to deny it. But usually, every argument arise with the underlying problem of money. Actually some couples have no arguments, except when the partner looks in the wallet and wonders where all the cash went to. Then the credit card bills start to make up of red ink and you realise that there is an issue that needs to be sorted out.
The stress from lack of money or overspending can lead to a divorce or separation. This is especially the case when we live in a materialistic world and have the cloud of social pressure hanging over our heads. Some couples end up putting the house up for sale and move back in with a set of parents or renting an apartment they can afford. Very few people want to move back in with their parents, especially their spouses. It could have taken a lot of effort to move out in the first place, now putting themselves back into the situation they wanted to get out of sounds illogical.
There are some things that can be done to avoid all this mess. It is still going to be a compromise on the lifestyle you had intended. You may not want to give up your dream home at all. So instead, you invite your parents to move in with you. Of course it is likely that your parents are retirement age and looking for an alternative. Have a close friend? Some people get a close friend to move in and this may have terrible consequences. Your spouse is not fast friends with this person like you are and arguments ensue.
Some people have to clear out one room and then just rent out that room. While this is an awful compromise, you may be able to take some of the pain away by not renting to just anyone who answers an ad. In fact, making this move could possible eliminate all your cash flow problems immediately. The point is not about how big or small the amount of money you will generate from renting out a room. It is about your affordability threshold and you will have less of a headache as long as you keep your finances within that threshold.
You could look at taking in a foreign exchange student for a time. While it is an intrusion to your lifestyle, most foreign students are kept busy with studies. Although some people have found this to be okay, the idea of preparing meals for someone of a different culture has led to some stress. So if you want to avoid that added burden, put it into writing that your tenant will have to settle their own meals.
There are definitely other ways your lifestyle can be severely altered if the house expenses becomes too much. Food costs are very high in most cases and you may find yourself budgeting really hard on food. It’s tough to go from eating steak and potatoes, to Kraft dinner or cheap cans of soup. If you have a few kids, your grocery bill could be very high.
Now you have two concerns. You are having trouble making the mortgage payment and in an effort to cope, your kids are suffering. It’s a terrible feeling for a parent…to not be able to provide good healthy meals for their kids. As well, denying your children certain foods like deserts and snacks, can affect you adversely.
The lifestyle you chose, may have to change for the worse. It’s a hard decision to sit down and look at selling your second car or even that big screen television that you so desired. Having a yard sale because you have to instead of doing it for fun, is very demeaning. It is always best to make sure that you can always afford the dream home you picked out.
Budgeting is not rocket science. Anyone can go about working out their sums as long as they have a clear of objective of what they are trying to achieve. It is not childish. In fact, it is irresponsible to not even conduct a basic budgeting exercise.
The easy part is determining the amount of mortgage repayments you have to make each month and the amount of monthly income the household brings in. The tough part is to work out a credible estimation of your variable expenses. But if you put your mind to it, you should be able to work out a reasonable estimate within an hour. Then it is just a simple task of adding and subtracting to see where you stand.
Sometimes, having a buffer pile of cash in the bank can blur your vision of just how critical a situation you are in. It sometimes gives people a false sense of financial security. The prudent way to look at your cash safety net is to start taking action to address your finances as soon as your expenses are eating into your savings.
Because if you think that your lifestyle is being compromised from the lack of cash inflow, you have seen nothing yet. The full force of compromised lifestyle will be truly felt when the cash in the bank that makes you feel safe starts running out.
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