I may be moving in a few months! We have found a house 2 blocks from our current home that we are going to try to buy. I will be visiting with the banker tomorrow. It's a small house, only 2 bedroom, but it is really cute and with just the 2 of us, we don't really need a lot of space if we just pare down some of our "junk" we have accumulated over the past 30+ years. Some of our stuff will just stay here for a while. We think that Jason, our son, may possibly want to move back into this house, and if so, we can probably keep some of our stuff here.
It will be hard in some ways to leave this house, as we have a lot of memories of Teresa here, but those memories will follow us wherever we go. The difference in the cost of utilities between the two houses will make our house payment in the new one. It has beautiful luxurious carpet. The rooms are not large and we won't have a dining room, but we have never used ours for eating anyway, except on special occasions.
I am excited at the idea of being able to decorate the new house the way I want to. It will be tricky doing all of this while working nights, but I'm excited about doing it. I never thought I would get to have a nice house again. Keep your fingers crossed for me that everything works out ok.

How fun and how smart to start paring down. The decorating sounds exciting too.

I am guessing you are moving from the house in which you raised your kids. I am sure there is a special attachment because of Teresa's old room, and very vivid memories from every room in the house with her. Must be hard, but maybe the move (once it is finished) will be a good change for you.

Hoope things go well at the bank.

Just an update...we are still waiting to hear from the credit union on the down payment for our house. I should hear yay or nay the first of the week. If the answer is yes, I will have lots of work to do to prepare for the move. I may not have much time to post on the forums, but I promise to let you all know which way it goes. If the answer is no, I guess I'll just have to work on trying to fix this house up as best I can. That will also take a lot of work. I love the location of our home now, and hate to leave our little corner of the world. But the house is decaying around us and needs massive amounts of TLC. We don't feel the structure is sound anymore and are afraid of pouring money down a "rathole".
Anyway, I'm going to bed, and I'll try to check in tomorrow afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I pray that if it is meant to be, your credit union will assist you in the purchase of this new home. It is a great time to be buying a house-interest rates are supposed to slowly rise over the next year. My brother and his family who live just blocks from me are moving in a few weeks. They have 4 children and have been in this home for eleven years. They have filled up 2 dumpsters full of junk that they don't need. It's hysterical, they have the dumpster situated right outside of their back door so they occasionally open the door and toss useless items into the trash without ever having to even leave the house. They had a little room left in the second dumpster and it inspired me to do some purging. The things that we save! I found old, broken art projects, stained coffee mugs, dried up craft paint, etc. My sister-in-law is a little sad to move also-it has all of the memories of raising her 4 babies. In looking for the positive side to all of this, we decided that moving is the only way you will ever really do a massive, thorough housecleaning. It will be nice to have a fresh, clean, uncluttered start-a new chance to find the space to accumulate stuff! Good luck!

I saw that knitwit...a new chance to find the space to accumulate stuff! Yikes!

This reminds me of helping my parents move out of the house we were raised in. The stuff we found! Old uniforms, prom dresses, school projects, cards, a floppy hat with smiley face buttons all over it, purses and shoes from the 60's and 70's, etc. There are in style again!

It was an exhausting job, but we made the most of it. We tried to do it with our siblings and that made it much more fun. Lots of laughs!

That reminded me of something funny that happened when we were cleaning out my Mom's house so that she could move into an apartment. In an old jewelry box in the attic were my grandmother's false teeth. She died in 1971! Why in the world would you need to save something like that? We laughed sooo hard--and you need a good laugh when you are tackling a job like that!

Well, I think things are moving along on the home loan. Hopefully, we will be able to move in May or June. The present owner is going to install a new tub/shower unit in the bathroom, and we want to buy a new front room set and a few other furniture items before we move in.
It is exciting to think that I might actually have a solid roof over my head soon..lol.
I have a lot of work ahead of me in the next few weeks, so I may not be online much to post. I'll try to check in periodically and let you know what progress has been made. Thanks for everyone's support.

Congratulations! I just recently went through buying my first place and I know how much work it is. In the end, you will be so glad that you get to start fresh in a new home. Good luck with the work ahead of you.

Thanks, Candace. At the moment I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of sorting and moving 15 years worth of memories and possessions. I am a book collector, and have decided that I need to pare down my collection to a more manageable size. I may sell some of them on eBay, give some to local libraries, and sell some at a yard sale I'm considering having. The local jr. high school is having a clothing drive, so I may dispose of some extra clothing there. We are not taking all of our furniture with us. Some we will leave here for our son to use if he moves into the house. What he doesn't want, I may sell at the yard sale. I have art supplies to sort through, and many kitchen items that are duplicates. Some of them I know Jason can use, but I tend to save margarine tubs and lids that are not really needed, so those will either go on the yard sale or be disposed of. Sheesh..so much work and so little time. Guess I'd better get started.

Sounds like lots of work ahead...but what fun! YOu will feel so fresh and uncluttered inyour new home.

A bonus is your son moving it to the house he grew up in, right? How neat. I think it is great when people can stay in their home-towns, though not always the case these days.

Make the most of the cleaning out!