we are thinking of moving homes. dh has been thinking of moving for a while now but i am hesistant because i don't want to add more to our loan.
here are the pros and cons list of living in the place we live in:
cons --
-we live in attached housing. there is a townhouse in the front and we are the villa behind it. there is another villa behind us. it's a small complex, only 3 of us.
-every year we pay $450 strata insurance whether we like it or not. it just covers the external stuff.
-we live on a main road. we had a letter sent to us by the council that the numbers of trucks going through our road will increase over the next few months as a new port will be built in the next suburb soon.
-if you can imagine our home, all three homes were built on what used to be a large rectangular block. on the right side of the house there is a primary school, on the left side there is a house also sitting on a large rectangular block. the left hand side neighbours house ends just about where our house starts. the neighbour has a fireplace at the end of thier home which is used about 4 months out of every 12. the chimney is right in front of our place. the smoke from the chimney blows DIRECTLY onto and into our home. it doesn't matter if there is strong wind, weak wind, the smoke always blows onto our home. in fact, i have everything shut right now and you can still smell the whiffs of smoke coming from underneath the front door. tried putting something in front of the door, didnt do much.
i noticed that my bird started screaming when i started to smell the smoke. i think it is bothering him as he sits right beside the door and there is no where else for him to sit without being in isolation which is not healthy emotionally for a baby parrot or any parrot for that matter. we have a small home.
the smell of the smoke has:
-put me out of commision for a few days whenever i can smell it. i get migraines and ANYONE that suffers from migraines will know that you are very sensitive to smells and they don't go easily and i can't take strong meds as i'm preg and bf'ing and like WTF am i supposed to do?? i'm sick of being incapacitated.
-gave me a wierd wheezing type cough
-makes me dizzy within a minute of smelling it. i'm sure the carbon monoxide can't be good for us, especially a 21 month old, a bird and a pregnant mama.
right now im in the bedroom and i can STILL smell it. the smell comes in and has nowhere to go because we can't open anything.
we spoke to the neighbour. he changed the wood he is using, the smell went down maybe 50% which was good. but it's still there. and regardless, the chimney is right in front of our house. i can't even open the windows at our place. not in the day or at night (ok maybe between the hours of 12am-6am). so we get no fresh air. and we get to breathe in carbon monoxide as a bonus.
and for gawds sake, it's not even snowing here! it's not even THAT cold. wear some clothing inside your house you idiots.
-it gets really hot here in summer. we need the air con to be almost 24-7 to not be miserable (and were like a half naked family). our courtyard is small and there is no place to plant a large tree for shade. over the fence is the school and that part of the school is the field in where there are NO trees at all. so the direct sun hits our house all day with nothing to shield it. to top it off, we have one huge and one large window in the lounge room on the side where there is no shade. and on the other side we have the door and yet another window. glass absorbs heat easily, and we have *plenty* of glass everywhere in the lounge room and kitchen.
-our house is tiled. while i thought this was a blessing, i learned that it wasn't. a monkey-like toddler and tiles don't mix. the tiles surface is not flat either - it is grooved which makes it HARD to clean. to mop properly, i have to get on my hands and knees and actually scrub in between those tiny grooves for every tile. toddler likes to throw food around, eat while walking, and our house collects dust like crazy. considering the entire house is tiled.. it's become a nightmare.
i've tried a few different mops. nothing works. only by hand. i probably sound like a spoilt brat but it really is a PITA. and the tiles are white. everything shows up on them.
-we need to change a few things to make this place more kid friendly and livable -- tiles need to go, and wooden floorboards put in instead, shutters need to be put on all windows and appropriate shade in the courtyard... total cost, even if we do it ourselves, around $8000-10000 at least. money we don't have and frankly don't want to spend considering this may not be our permanent home.
-it's a 2 bedroom place and that would be fine, if the 2nd bedroom could fit anything more than a pair of feet. the main bedroom is sized ok. the 2nd bedroom is not. it just fits one chest freezer, one computer desk and one bird cage. as our kids get older and ask for thier own place, where are we supposed to put them? in the lounge room? personally, i can wait for them to ask, i love co-sleeping.. but i know it's going to happen eventually.
-the kitchen is small. no room to store anything. my "pantry" is 50cm by 50cm. no joke!! my pots and pans just struggle to fit. we really don't have that much but everything is on top of eachother. even the top cupboards are that short that my doors stay open a little when i put the plates in.
we have a gas oven and cooktop, both of which i hate - for the fumes. i prefer electric.
-we are about 100m from powerlines.
-i live in a bus only suburb and to get to most places one way i need to catch 2 buses which will take me about 2 hours of travelling ONE WAY. that doesn't fare well with my toddler. and i can't even imagine 2 kids and four hours spent waiting for and travelling on goddamn buses. all that for a trip that takes 15 minutes by car. not to mention that trip would cost me $11 and i'm only paying for myself here.
-my neighbours love to warm up thier cars in the morning (5am on the dot) in the main driveway, which is fine, if you like to be poisoned. granted, they are courteus in facing the car to thier own home, but i still have to keep all windows shut in the morning (it's always fun to run around on icy cold tiles in the morning to shut the windows in a mad dash) otherwise the fumes come in and again, dizzyness and a headache. i'm sure it can't be good for our lungs either.
let's see, make fresh air time from 12am-4:59am.
-the so-called double garage is not a double garage but 1.5 car garage. my dh works as a mechanic part time and this is bad for him because it means he can't do jobs at home, which was the point of finding a place with a double garage.
-the windows in our bedroom are large and very low -- therefore bad for safety reasons. my dh can easily get into the house with any one of the pathetic windows we have. oh yes, add the windows to the list of things that need to change. boy do the windows look good, but they arent practical!
-our neighbour in #1 can't park for shit, have thier friends and family park in the driveway so we have to basically ask to be able to get out of our own driveway. also, they park too close up our spot and sometimes dh struggles to get the car in. dh is REALLY close to telling them off but i keep telling him to be patient. they are inconsiderate and will stay that way -- there are a few other incidents which im not bothered right now to talk about. they are that sort of people.
-we paid three hundred and twenty two thousand for THIS?!?!
pros:
-we have paid off almost 30K in one year, and i get so pleased when i see the loan term decrease dramatically with each pay... i don't want to ruin it as stupid as that sounds.
-my dd knows our house and it's the sweetest thing when she runs up to the house from the car and knocks on the door.
-it is a decent looking place even though it is small.
-maybe i can just learn to live with all the crap and dose myself up on medication everyday to deal with the headaches?? maybe?
-----
i dont want to go into more debt... but im not sure if it's healthy living here, what with the air con being on 24/7 in summer (no fresh air), the windows shut in winter and any cool day during the year and being on a main road, so close to the powerlines, not being able to travel anywhere except by bus or walk one hour to get to the shops one way.
argh. we would look at selling this place for 322. like i said it's decent looking and people seem to go for looks over practicality.. and we'd add on another 80K and live in our OWN place with OWN land, space for dh to do mechanic work and no one up our @ss so to speak.
what do you think? what would you do? is the extra 80K worth it considering the cons list? or just put up and shut up?
thankyou for ANY input!
here are the pros and cons list of living in the place we live in:
cons --
-we live in attached housing. there is a townhouse in the front and we are the villa behind it. there is another villa behind us. it's a small complex, only 3 of us.
-every year we pay $450 strata insurance whether we like it or not. it just covers the external stuff.
-we live on a main road. we had a letter sent to us by the council that the numbers of trucks going through our road will increase over the next few months as a new port will be built in the next suburb soon.
-if you can imagine our home, all three homes were built on what used to be a large rectangular block. on the right side of the house there is a primary school, on the left side there is a house also sitting on a large rectangular block. the left hand side neighbours house ends just about where our house starts. the neighbour has a fireplace at the end of thier home which is used about 4 months out of every 12. the chimney is right in front of our place. the smoke from the chimney blows DIRECTLY onto and into our home. it doesn't matter if there is strong wind, weak wind, the smoke always blows onto our home. in fact, i have everything shut right now and you can still smell the whiffs of smoke coming from underneath the front door. tried putting something in front of the door, didnt do much.
i noticed that my bird started screaming when i started to smell the smoke. i think it is bothering him as he sits right beside the door and there is no where else for him to sit without being in isolation which is not healthy emotionally for a baby parrot or any parrot for that matter. we have a small home.
the smell of the smoke has:
-put me out of commision for a few days whenever i can smell it. i get migraines and ANYONE that suffers from migraines will know that you are very sensitive to smells and they don't go easily and i can't take strong meds as i'm preg and bf'ing and like WTF am i supposed to do?? i'm sick of being incapacitated.
-gave me a wierd wheezing type cough
-makes me dizzy within a minute of smelling it. i'm sure the carbon monoxide can't be good for us, especially a 21 month old, a bird and a pregnant mama.
right now im in the bedroom and i can STILL smell it. the smell comes in and has nowhere to go because we can't open anything.
we spoke to the neighbour. he changed the wood he is using, the smell went down maybe 50% which was good. but it's still there. and regardless, the chimney is right in front of our house. i can't even open the windows at our place. not in the day or at night (ok maybe between the hours of 12am-6am). so we get no fresh air. and we get to breathe in carbon monoxide as a bonus.
and for gawds sake, it's not even snowing here! it's not even THAT cold. wear some clothing inside your house you idiots.
-it gets really hot here in summer. we need the air con to be almost 24-7 to not be miserable (and were like a half naked family). our courtyard is small and there is no place to plant a large tree for shade. over the fence is the school and that part of the school is the field in where there are NO trees at all. so the direct sun hits our house all day with nothing to shield it. to top it off, we have one huge and one large window in the lounge room on the side where there is no shade. and on the other side we have the door and yet another window. glass absorbs heat easily, and we have *plenty* of glass everywhere in the lounge room and kitchen.
-our house is tiled. while i thought this was a blessing, i learned that it wasn't. a monkey-like toddler and tiles don't mix. the tiles surface is not flat either - it is grooved which makes it HARD to clean. to mop properly, i have to get on my hands and knees and actually scrub in between those tiny grooves for every tile. toddler likes to throw food around, eat while walking, and our house collects dust like crazy. considering the entire house is tiled.. it's become a nightmare.
i've tried a few different mops. nothing works. only by hand. i probably sound like a spoilt brat but it really is a PITA. and the tiles are white. everything shows up on them.
-we need to change a few things to make this place more kid friendly and livable -- tiles need to go, and wooden floorboards put in instead, shutters need to be put on all windows and appropriate shade in the courtyard... total cost, even if we do it ourselves, around $8000-10000 at least. money we don't have and frankly don't want to spend considering this may not be our permanent home.
-it's a 2 bedroom place and that would be fine, if the 2nd bedroom could fit anything more than a pair of feet. the main bedroom is sized ok. the 2nd bedroom is not. it just fits one chest freezer, one computer desk and one bird cage. as our kids get older and ask for thier own place, where are we supposed to put them? in the lounge room? personally, i can wait for them to ask, i love co-sleeping.. but i know it's going to happen eventually.
-the kitchen is small. no room to store anything. my "pantry" is 50cm by 50cm. no joke!! my pots and pans just struggle to fit. we really don't have that much but everything is on top of eachother. even the top cupboards are that short that my doors stay open a little when i put the plates in.
we have a gas oven and cooktop, both of which i hate - for the fumes. i prefer electric.
-we are about 100m from powerlines.
-i live in a bus only suburb and to get to most places one way i need to catch 2 buses which will take me about 2 hours of travelling ONE WAY. that doesn't fare well with my toddler. and i can't even imagine 2 kids and four hours spent waiting for and travelling on goddamn buses. all that for a trip that takes 15 minutes by car. not to mention that trip would cost me $11 and i'm only paying for myself here.
-my neighbours love to warm up thier cars in the morning (5am on the dot) in the main driveway, which is fine, if you like to be poisoned. granted, they are courteus in facing the car to thier own home, but i still have to keep all windows shut in the morning (it's always fun to run around on icy cold tiles in the morning to shut the windows in a mad dash) otherwise the fumes come in and again, dizzyness and a headache. i'm sure it can't be good for our lungs either.
let's see, make fresh air time from 12am-4:59am.
-the so-called double garage is not a double garage but 1.5 car garage. my dh works as a mechanic part time and this is bad for him because it means he can't do jobs at home, which was the point of finding a place with a double garage.
-the windows in our bedroom are large and very low -- therefore bad for safety reasons. my dh can easily get into the house with any one of the pathetic windows we have. oh yes, add the windows to the list of things that need to change. boy do the windows look good, but they arent practical!
-our neighbour in #1 can't park for shit, have thier friends and family park in the driveway so we have to basically ask to be able to get out of our own driveway. also, they park too close up our spot and sometimes dh struggles to get the car in. dh is REALLY close to telling them off but i keep telling him to be patient. they are inconsiderate and will stay that way -- there are a few other incidents which im not bothered right now to talk about. they are that sort of people.
-we paid three hundred and twenty two thousand for THIS?!?!
pros:
-we have paid off almost 30K in one year, and i get so pleased when i see the loan term decrease dramatically with each pay... i don't want to ruin it as stupid as that sounds.
-my dd knows our house and it's the sweetest thing when she runs up to the house from the car and knocks on the door.
-it is a decent looking place even though it is small.
-maybe i can just learn to live with all the crap and dose myself up on medication everyday to deal with the headaches?? maybe?
-----
i dont want to go into more debt... but im not sure if it's healthy living here, what with the air con being on 24/7 in summer (no fresh air), the windows shut in winter and any cool day during the year and being on a main road, so close to the powerlines, not being able to travel anywhere except by bus or walk one hour to get to the shops one way.
argh. we would look at selling this place for 322. like i said it's decent looking and people seem to go for looks over practicality.. and we'd add on another 80K and live in our OWN place with OWN land, space for dh to do mechanic work and no one up our @ss so to speak.
what do you think? what would you do? is the extra 80K worth it considering the cons list? or just put up and shut up?
thankyou for ANY input!
i don't want to poison my kids (human or furry) for money sake. guess i'm still stuck in that rut of "shut up and make do". i feel spoilt for wanting to move as weve only been living here for almost a year. but it was our first home and we had no idea what would work for us (we were living in a unit prior to this). we now know what would definately work for us in a home.
you have all really helped to validate my feelings which i needed (because i often think i'm just being a complainer). dh and i talked about it and we agreed (more like i agreed, he already knew this) that while it may seem inconvenient now or more costly, we have to think of the long term benefits (especially the health of our kiddos).
