We updated the bathroom... ourselves.. *mic drop*
So why am I telling you this? Our 5 year plan was to be able to do more in our ministry and to show the kids the rest of the world. How do you do that when you are tied down to a mortgage payment and stuck in a revolving door of credit card debt? All you Dave Ramsey fans I hear you yelling at me. We tried that, thanks tho.
No matter what we did nothing got us out of the hole. With one income and the hubby becoming self employed now the 5 year plan was seemingly impossible. Then the housing economy turned in our favor, and kept climbing up in our favor. We saw that as as way out.
If you had the chance to be debt free, reduce your overhead and spend more time with your kids would you say no? I hope you wouldn't.
In our view the kids we are given are gifts and we only have a short time to teach, mold and grow them into good humans. This was our chance. Saying no was not an option. So we prayed about putting the house on the market and decided to see what happens. We listed it at a higher price then the realtor suggested, 3 showings and 2 offers in 24hrs told us we were on the right track. The bidding war ensued and we were homeless 48hrs later! Guess that was a yes to selling it?
So the next part was the travel trailer. We had a budget of $15,000 for the travel trailer, our van could haul 8,700lbs so it needed to be under that and a bunkhouse. Again praying about it and waited to see what happens. Well a friend told us about one that was being sold by another friend! We inquired about it, 6,300lbs (check!) bunkhouse (check!), had one slide out and the master bedroom had a door not a curtain (check!)... the price?... $7,000!!!! Sign us up... oh wait one minor detail... it was 1,200 miles away.
That seemed to be a deal breaker to us, can't inspect it and can't smell it and touch it. So no. The friends of friends selling it said "How about a truck to go with it and we will give you a good deal?"
So after what seemed like strong hints to get it we decided to go for.
My frugal self said "We don't need the truck I bet I could sell it!" You know by now that I love a good deal and love it even more if I can flip it and make some cash. So the truck that came with the trailer was a 2002 Ford Excursion Limited Edition 93k original miles. I found out very quickly there is a market for them and the right person will pay good money for one.
When we got it back home I detailed the daylights out of it! She was so clean you could eat off the seats or the floor!
So if you are keeping track the budget was $15,000 for a trailer. The Truck and Trailer combo was offered to us for $16,000. I bought the hubby and brother in law a ticket for $40 each to get there. They drove it back (my sister went too but got her own ticket). When the truck was sold a week later the new owners had not one think too pick at since it was so clean, they paid $14,500 for it. So you are left with a total of... $1,500 for the Travel Trailer. That was well under budget for us, I'm ok with that.
So now we are well under budget and ready to remodel the new home on wheels! It is a 2006 Keystone Springdale 296 BHG
Does it need some love? Yes! Can we do it? Yes we can!
Stay tuned for the updates.. or check out our Instagram page Vegan Runner Mommy
