Here is When It’s Okay to Splurge on Housing

When you’re paying off debt and trying to save money then chances are you try to keep your splurges to a minimum. An easy way to do this typically is by keeping the big expenses down, but I choose to splurge on housing. 

Housing usually provides the biggest opportunity to save money. Ideally, housing shouldn’t cost more than 30% of your income. However, I gladly spend a little bit more on my housing. I thought I’d share why I’m fine splurging on my house.

First, I’m home all the damn time

Yup, I’m home pretty much all the time, especially now that I work for myself. I don’t have an office to go to, occasionally I’ll go out to coffee shop, but because I am trying to save money I’m pretty much home all the time.

This means that being somewhere I like, in a great community, and safe area is a big priority to me. I need to really like where I live.

Safety

I mentioned that where I live is a great community and that it’s safe. See, I am a single woman and I live alone and while I do now have a dog, that wasn’t always the case.

Where I lived previously, I did not feel safe walking across the street alone at night (I was being followed by a creepy guy once). There was also a murder at the shopping center around the corner. These are some of the reasons I moved to where I now live. I’d lived here nearly a year before I got a dog and still felt completely find walking alone at night.

So safety is always a big concern for me specially after that previous living experience. When I move to my current apartment complex I was excited that it was gated community and to be able to find a really nice area to live where I felt safe to walk around and with really great people was fantastic.

Great Community

Many of my neighbors have also lived here a while. The apartment complex also has a Care’s Team that puts on events every single month, making it fun and easy to socialize to the neighborhood. Not to mention there are three restaurants within walking distance. Also the events usually involve free food and/or booze. Yes, please.

I actually use the amenities

Now there’s a lot a great apartment complexes out there and people can be seen as wasting their money if you aren’t taking advantage of what those complexes offer.

However, I do take advantage of all the amenities my complex has to offer. The amenities my complex has includes:

• Two swimming pools
• Two fenced in dog parks with obstacles
• Two dog wash stations (one indoor, one outdoor)
• A CyberCafe with free wifi, coffee, computers, and a printer
• A space that can be rented out for events but if not being rented can be used by residents, it includes a kitchen and a huge tv. (it’s great when I need a break from working at home)
• A gym (not a fitness center with one treadmill & weights, a legit gym with locker rooms, a yoga room, multiple cardio equipment and weight machines. 

So I really do love and take advantage of the amenities offered to me, living here. 

I can’t afford a house, even if I could, No Bank Would let me buy a house

The sad truth is that I can’t afford a house. Ane even if I could and had the money for a down payment I wouldn’t really be able to qualify for mortgage because I’m a single income household that is self-employed with less than two years of self-employment.

Most banks require those that are self-employed to be able to show two years worth of income from their business. So I’m looking at a minimum of one more year of living in apartment anyway but even then I’d have to make a hell of a lot of money in this next year to be able to afford a house.

Wrapping it up with a bow on top

I have no problem splurging on housing because I’m actually taking a vantage of everything my community has offer. I don’t feel bad about splurging on my apartment because it someplace I am am 90% of the time, it is located in a comfortable and safe environment where I can enjoy my life and grow my business.