Rolling Into 2009

I'm definitely rolling into the new year with some major life changes.

Met my husband over the summer at a mutual friend's wedding. We got engaged six weeks later and married last month. It was the easiest decision I've ever made in my entire life.

2009 has brought both joys and challenges to Tim and I. The day after we got married, we moved into a rented condo in St. Petersburg just a few blocks from my previous apartment.
A few weeks after we moved, Tim was hired at La Fogata, a Brazilian steak house in Gulfport, FL. He likes his job so far and we feel lucky that he found employment in this tough as nails economy. Tim is in charge of cooking all the meat that the restaurant serves. If you're not familiar with this type of food, it's churrasco style. It's an all-you-can-eat meat smorgasboard, where diners are served slices of delicious meat right at their table.

Neither of us want to have to work our entire lives. Ideally, we'd like to retire earlier rather than later. Our primary goals are saving as much money as possible. We'd like to purchase a foreclosed home at the end of the year, fix it up, then sell it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Prices are still rock bottom, so getting a great deal shouldn't be too hard. Tim does remodeling work so we can save quite a bit of money doing this and build equity and value in the house.

We've also tossed around other ideas like catering on the side, and even making our own furniture. Over the New Year holiday, Tim acquired a nice table saw and a router. He's been tinkering with the new toys this week and I think furniture crafting is something he'll enjoy.

I've drawn up a preliminary budget, and with our current incomes, we should be able to save a very substantial amount of money (about $1,000 per month). That's not even including my 10% kicked into my 401k. That's a huge relief to me!

So all in all, 2009 may be okay for the Moore family despite the crumbling economic infrastructure around us.