Damn you NJ

I know there are plenty of you that love living in NJ, especially this time of year with all the beach activity... me on the other hand couldn't care less... I am not a beach person what so ever so the big draw that people have to NJ is so not my thing...

I so badly wish we were elsewhere, for so many reasons. We've been talking again lately about the whole idea of moving. We both agree that at this point neither of us would have any problem moving just over the border to PA. Close enough that visiting family is easy enough but out of this money sucking ugly state ((sorry to those o you that see beauty here, I just don't see it)). For several nights last week I played around on the realtor.com app in search of homes... got to say it is so frustrating to see what you can get for your money just an hour away. Heres the problem though, we bought our townhouse right before the market went to to shit, so here we are stuck at the moment. Our house is no longer worth nearly what we paid for it which in turn means if we were to sell now we wouldn't have enough for a down payment on a new home, even if it is cheaper.

So unfortunately right now we will be staying put until the house value returns to at least what we paid. The tough part is that until then we will continue to struggle. Its certainly not easy with just one salary coming in, though neither of us would change the fact that I am home raising Jack. Every month is the same thing... where are we pulling money from to get by.... no matter what, we can't seem to keep the credit card clear (and might I mention that the majority of that is only groceries and gas). I am constantly in disbelief over the amount of money we have to pay this ridiculous town for taxes... we have a townhouse with no land besides our driveway and the tiny plot that the house sits on! It is absurd! Don't get me wrong I do love our house but I am starting to really get the picture that if we had just looked a little further from the family we would have been saving a lot more money!

Lesson learned... we need to start doing what is best for us and not what is just going to please everyone else. Its funny because if you aren't in the same situation its so easy to just say that we can't move because all our family is here... why is it okay that every month we struggle to simply live... and no I'm not denying that our major vice is going out to dinner but honestly going out to dinner a hand full of times is not whats breaking the bank here... we are getting to the point where something has got to give! Hopefully soon the value of the house goes up and we can make a small move for now to test the waters... who knows what will happen at this point... for now we are stuck where we are...

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