May 15 2014

Financial Leap of Faith

exchange rate

Do you believe in fate? I went to a birthday party for a friend’s child over the weekend and I think I met the people who are going to buy our house next year.

Our house is right where she wants to be. She already knows two of our neighbors on a street with only a dozen or so houses. Her family lives in our small town, her youngest is starting school down the street, and our house will be priced right for a first time buyer. She has to talk it over with her husband, then we’ll have them over for a BBQ/house tour, but it feels like formalities to me. I just have this crazy feeling that it’s going to work out.

Mi casa su casaIt’s exciting because selling our house is going to be a crucial step in our moving process. The last time we sold a house we had to take a loss; basically we wound up paying a few thousand dollars for someone else to take the house off our hands. That was in 2008 when the housing market crashed.

This time we really need to make some money when we sell to put toward the move to Cozumel, Mexico next spring. We don’t have any savings to speak of, although we’re working on it. We have some debt that we’d like to pay off so we’re not making payments from overseas, and we can’t be sure what kind of income we’ll have until we actually make the move. We’ve paid off a good chunk of the house and the market has improved, but it’s a little scary.

By now you’re probably screaming “So why are you moving to Mexico with no money?” The answer is simple: we’re living here with no money, so what’s the difference? We live paycheck to paycheck with little safety net, as I think a lot of people do. If we moved to another state in the U.S., started paying rent, went to different schools, changed jobs because we moved, would we seem crazy? Then why not move wherever we want to in the world?

I’m not a fan of waiting for “someday” because too often it never comes. While you sit around waiting for the stars to align you get old, you get sick, you die and your dreams remain just dreams. SEIZE THE DAY, PEOPLE!

Life is too short to wait for the kids to grow up and the bank account to hit full (is there such a thing?) There is always a reason to put off your dreams, and we know them all. I wonder what friends and relatives are saying, and I worry that we’ll fall on our faces. La la la la la, I can’t hear you little nagging voice of doubt! I know more than anyone else how crazy it is for us to move to Mexico. But I want to do it anyway, because life is too short not to.

I want to be there with my children, all three of them, not after they’re gone away living their own lives. I want to live there, not vacation, so we’ll work and pay bills and do all the day-to-day things we would have done anyway. I want to sell my house and walk away from everything I own to find a larger world to live in, but I’m also still living the same life I would have here. To me it’s not that different, so the financial insecurities I’ve lived with all my life aren’t enough to hold me back.

So now the question becomes if it’s not so different, why go at all? Why not stay here? Because it is different. Our lives will still have the same basic pattern of work and school but it will play out in another culture. The environment around us will add ambiance and give it a new flavor, the same way food made in a restaurant never tastes the same when you make it at home. It will expand our understanding of the world to see how others live, to speak another language, to find our way in a strange place. Our lives-and our children’s lives-will never be the same.

I had assumed that selling the house would be one of the final steps in our journey to Cozumel, but after finding the perfect buyer this weekend I think it may be settled a lot sooner. It’s a friendly wink from fate that tells me we’re on the right path, that things are going to work out. I know it was just a conversation at a party, but that’s how things start. I have a feeling…..and amazing things happen when you follow your feelings.

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Posted May 15, 2014 by amelia @ theeverydayjourney.com in category "2014", "Archives", "Uncategorized

About the Author

Amelia Lynch is an RN turned Travel Writer who opted for a simpler life in a bigger world. In July 2015 she and her family moved to Mexico to start exploring with no plan to stop. Hoping to inspire others to take the leap and follow their dreams, this blog will share the ups and downs of being a traveling family. Come along for the ride!

3 COMMENTS :

  1. By Jen Allen on

    I like to believe in fate and signs from the Universe that we are on the right path. When Matt paid our rent last month, the landlord told him that the owner is interested in selling and that we could probably get the house for between $40-50,000 (based on neighborhood comps). We’re thinking that with the issues we know the house has, that number could be even lower. The only thing that keeps us from making the leap of faith is not knowing what is happening with my job. It doesn’t make sense for us to buy a house on the Coast if I’m not working on the Coast. But the Coast is where we want to be. So why not go ahead and make the leap and trust that the rest of it will follow? (for me the answer is that when I moved home to MS, it took me 9 months to find a job. And while I was only unemployed for about a month this last time, this job over an hour from home was all I could find)

    I admire you.

    Reply
    1. By amelia @ theeverydayjourney.com (Post author) on

      Awww, thanks. When things like that are happening I ask myself what it might mean. Does not being able to find a job where you want mean that you need to change jobs, or that you need to go somewhere else? Or does it mean you just need to be patient? I believe that everything happens for a reason, even little things, and that if we pay attention to the road signs we end up where we are meant to be. What does your heart tell you to do?

      Reply
  2. By lindsay on

    If anyone thinks you are crazy, it’s possibly because THEY are too afraid to take any leap of faith. So leave it to them to mention all of the negative possibilities. I can’t wait for your new adventure!

    Reply

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