Have to call in the financial pros

After our ‘burb weekend, I can safely say I am definitely a city, or maybe just a “my neighborhood” person. The lovely little towns that have grown into pretty little suburbs as Toronto has expanded have a few flaws I just can’t get past:

1) I love to walk everywhere and do most of my errands on foot or bicycle with the kids – these lovely towns don’t have all of the amenities located tidily near enough to make anything other than driving manageable
2)Strolling around the neighborhood and meeting a seemingly endless parade of friends and families out doing the same isn’t the ‘burb way – from what I’ve observed both driving around and strolling on the “one-side-of-the-street-or-not-at-all-sidewalk” neighborhoods, people must hang out in their fenced in backyards or in some secret location revealed only to those who live there

Now maybe I just haven’t found the right little town/ suburb with the perfect combination of all that I love. I’m still open to the possibility, but in light of recent activity, I’m little dubious.

So now, my hubbie and I are at an uncomfortable impasse on the moving issue. Rather than risk marital implosion, we’re calling in the big guns – an investment consultant – to help us best understand our options.

We’ve tried to do this on our own….fiddled the dollars a bit here…consolidated debts a little there…deducted a bit elsewhere…but without professional insight to really look at all of the short and long-term benefits/consequences and what we really want out of our lives.

So why have we not taken advantage of professional help before? (I just re-read that line...made me giggle) Sadly, it’s been a matter of priorities. Until now, we’ve managed to distract ourselves enough from the alarm bells sounding off regularly with the busy-ness that is our life.

So here we go...soon to be ignorant no more. Personally I’m terrified! But I’ll let you know how it goes (hopefully not a case of misery shared in the end, but wish me luck).

If you too are at an impasse, a good place to get through it is to:
1) Talk to your bank. They deal with this every day and may surprise you with how creative they can get at saving you money
2)Check out what the bread winner in your household’s workplace may offer. If could be anything from a financial consultant to a therapist able to help you sort through the stresses and find a solution that you can live with.

A blog out for the 'burbs

After travelling many fun roads over the summer holidays with my kiddies in tow, I find reality now crowding back into my consciousness. No longer allowed the distraction of lazy hazy, I’m back on the financial-happiness-while-home-with-the-kids warpath…a path my husband is steadfastly trying to detour to the ‘burbs.

Let me start by saying that the ‘burbs are a perfectly lovely place for many people to live. I just don’t think I am among those who would remain sane in this mystical “mortage and expenses reduced” land my husband has envisioned. When I think of life out there all I can imagine is lots of time spent in the car driving kids to/fro. Then there’s the searching desperately for new friends for both myself and my 2 year old to socialize with (I cannot be trusted left to my own devices for long). And on top of that, the bulk of the ‘burb population are double income families who aren’t around so much during the days.

The kids would likely adjust fine and my husband whose office is closer to the ‘burbs would be pleased. However I selfishly can’t think of giving up the walking to everything I could possibly need. Plus the large contingent of amazing moms I can call in an instant if I have an emergency would be gone. And finally, our neighborhood just got written up in the New York Times as cool so, call me shallow, I’m finally part of the cool group and don’t want to miss out on any of the perks that may or may not entail (who am I to argue with the NYT - http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/travel/05surfacing.html).

So what do I do now? I must put on my rational face and attempt to approach our upcoming field trip to the ‘burbs with an open mind. I know what you’re thinking…sounds like I’ve already made up my mind, but I can be swayed if it is really the best thing for our family. It may take a session of flogging myself with guilt (I’m been assured I’m very good at this) over money stress, but I’ll make the effort.

After said open-minded field trip though, the spreadsheet comes out and I’m going to crunch the numbers before I give up my cool club status. So far my desperate plea to stay here has been emotional. Time to build my checklist below and add any others I can think of …

1)Real costs to sell our home > realtor, land transfer taxes, etc.
2)What our home can realistically sell for
3)Costs for any repairs or upgrades we still need to make before we could sell – including furniture we may need to exchange for staging purposes
4)What the new house costs would be > price of home, moving costs, new paint and window covering budget
5)Cost of the extra vehicle we’ll need to get around > initial and upkeep/gas
6)Cost of children’s programs for 2 year old (many of the things in our area are community supported and free)
7)Cost of gym membership with childcare so I don’t balloon to 1000 pounds when I start driving everywhere instead of the constant walking I do now.
8)What real disposable income we’ll have available after all of this to use to counter the aforementioned emotional ties I have to my current home