All very interesting .... I'm saving towards the downpayment on a home/condo ... if the prices ever come back to someplace reasonable that is .... so I don't buy much of anything these days, but had to get the glasses ... it's amazing the things I can see clearly now!!!

fzzy---Suggestion---When you are interested in buying,a home,
make sure that you figure ALL of your mortgage options.As I said
(in another thread),my wife saved us 10s of thousands of $,by
going with a 5yr shorter mortgage.For years,she has worked,as a
bookkeeper/accountant,so she took the time & effort,to figure them,all out. Irish
P.S.You would be suprised at how much of your payment is interest!

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Irish---Better to be dead & cool,then alive & uncool!
(Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man)

I know the feeling of new lenses fzzy! Congrats hun! *singing* I can see clearly now....blah, blah, blah, blah...*giggle*

We'll be getting hubby a new truck come February or March! *counting* 1+1=not enough yet!!!!!!

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~

Oh...and BTW fzzy...Experts suggest that interests rates will never be lower and that this is the ultimate time to purchase a home! I highly doubt that prices will come down too much, if at all...but interest rates will surely go up as there is not too much more down that they can go now-a-days!

Good luck hun! Look into Fanny Mae or FHA or VA (if you are a vet)!

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~

we just spent $1800 on plan tickets to the states and $1500 on my iBook, the next expense will be my christmas pressie i spose, i told him i want him and i to go to a play in london and maybe stay the night so thatll be a chunck of change tho not near what we just spent

nikki

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Ravage Me!

Me Time
Long Lonley Night
Tied Up
Teased

http://thesmashedfairy.blogspot.com/

I just got a new laptop. I just couldn't resist! It's soooo nice, much faster than my old one. Lot's of photo editing stuff to play around with too!

Kleclere and I have been looking at houses. The problem is that we want to stay in a certain, small school district, and, preferably, within walking distance. It limits the choices, although we did see one last night we are kind of interested in.

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"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, then let it, and if you have to wait for what you really want, take the time because nobody said that life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it." ~ Unknown author

Took the first step towards warding of impoverishment by the Gas Companies by buying a Honda Elite 80 moped to get around on.

Why drive something that gets 20 mpg (at 2.00 + per gallon) when I can go where I need to go @ 80 mpg?

AND ... it's lots of fun !!!

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If I came here to talk, I would have worn underwear.

oh yeah, and how could I forget my road trip this July? Travelling on this year's bonus check. Driving to PA, and meeting up with 6 online women & their babies from my parenting message board, plus one other online friend, on the way, plus getting to see more of the US than I have up to this point! Driving down through Maine, then NH, 3 days in NY, 3 days in PA, then driving home again

Oops, I almost forgot. At some point in the semi-near future, kleclere and I are going to have to think about a minivan, too...we have five children between us.

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"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, then let it, and if you have to wait for what you really want, take the time because nobody said that life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it." ~ Unknown author

thedog---It may sound stupid,coming from one that raced motorcycles.BE CAREFUL.From my over 45yrs,of riding experience,
I can tell you,they have VERY narrow wheels & get caught on everything.I rented a moped,in Bermuda,years ago,so I have
experience with them! Irish

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Irish---Better to be dead & cool,then alive & uncool!
(Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man)

No houses until we're back in North America. NOT even a faint possibility in Oxfordshire. People here are crazy, completely crazy.

So, the biggest expense in our immediate future is a vacation in Rome/Florence at the end of the summer. I SO wish it were now.

GingerV---Now you know ONE of the reasons for the Revolutionary
War!And you thought that it was just separation of Church& State! Irish

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Irish---Better to be dead & cool,then alive & uncool!
(Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man)

Yes Lilith...at least Mrs. WI and I waited two months to buy the second one!

<--- is nucking futs too, apparently.

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Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

Lixy I know the interest rates are low, but 2 bedroom condos here are in the $300,000+ range ... and that's just a basic one, nothing overly special or big about them .... housing rates have been going up in double digit percentages each year for about the last 4 years now ... can't stay at such an elevated price and so I'm biding my time (not in any rush whatsoever) and saving as much as I can to make as large of a down payment as possible.

Irish ... I know about the time frame, figure if possible I'll try to do a 15 year loan.

thanks you guys for the various words of advice ... to me and others ..... and for all your ideas of what you're getting or want to get ... it's fun to read about your "dreams".