Money Matters

OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I thought I'd give you all the dirty details about money. How much we need, how much we've already spent, how long we anticipate the saving process taking, etc.

Here's the breakdown:

Land: Down payment--$2000 (although they were only asking for $1000) about $300 a month, but we're paying $400 so we can pay it off quicker. It should take 8 years to pay off.

Camper: $3000 It was $3500, but we managed to talk him down with little more than a pretty please. We had a budget of $4000 for this purchase.

Pipes, Water Lines, Sewer Pumping, Trencher Rental: Total of about $600 (This was smaller than it would have otherwise been thanks to Uncle Larry and Cousin Mike!)

Electric Pole and Equipment: $300

So, our initial outlay of money came to just about $6000, which is exactly what we borrowed from my parents. We start paying them off as soon as the yurt is up and completed. We'll probably pay them $500 a month until it gets paid off, wich will take a year.

We still need to buy some sod and grass seed, and expect to spend about $300 on that.

Now, for the yurt:

Here is the company we've decided to buy from:

http://www.laurelnestyurts.com/

They are well-respected and more affordable than some of the bigger companies. A couple of the smaller, affordable yurt companies weren't respected and had bad rating with the BBB. We are buying the 30' yurt, and we're adding an extra door, several extra windows, complete insulation, and a working glass window to put an air conditioning unit in. We plan to do some sanding and staining ourselves. The total cost, according to their price calculator is $10, 445 minus shipping, which will be around $800.

The deck and flooring for the yurt will be in the $5000 range. We plan to do much of it ourselves with help and knowledge from my cousin, who owns Dunamis Home Restoration.

Initially, we plan to live in the yurt without interior walls. As soon as we can get the shell of the yurt up and heated/cooled, we will move our furniture in and hang curtains for partition. Over the next six months after that, we will build a loft, with a bathroom and rooms underneath, and with a kitchen. We will pay for that gradually, as we can afford it. We hope to have everything completed two years from now.

Here are some examples of interiors anf lofts to give you an idea:










How we're going to save the money:

Theatre, baby! So far, we're in two shows--Greg's in one and I'm in another. That adds up to $3500. Hopefully we'll both be in a show this summer. (I think we have a good shot--cross your fingers!) I have a possibility to be in two. Maddie may also be in a show this summer. Each show pays between $1100-$1700 dollars. This is over and above our usual pay for teaching. We also hope to do some voice-overs over the next year.

Additionally, starting in March, we should be able to save $500 of our "regular" pay since we are saving on rent. All in all, we estimate we should be able to order the yurt by the end of the summer, if all goes
well.

We're also considering what one blog reader suggested regarding adding a Paypal button to this blog. It feels kind of wrong to us, but I understand lots of people do it on their blog, and if we're giving any information that entertains or helps people, I suppose donations for that service make sense. We're still in the "thinking about it" phase!

And that's pretty much all I know about money right now. By my count, at the end of two years, we will have a camper and a 30' yurt for about $25,000. You can't even buy a run-down crack house for that! In eight years, we will have paid for the land. I'll be sure and post money updates as they come!