The Joys of Homeownership

Remind me again why it's so great to own a home? Because right now, I can't think of very many good reasons.

Sure, buying a home is a good investment... in the long run- not now, of course, because the economy sucks. But, overall owning a home is a nice, stable investment. Taking care of a home, on the other hand, really freaking sucks sometimes. Especially when, as in my case, your home was built in 17 B.C. Or at least it feels like it at times.

I swear with this house it's always one step forward, one huge leap back. We're short on money this weekend so we thought it'd be a good chance to stay home and work on all the little things that need to be done around here. Cleaning the gutters, cleaning the blinds, scrubbing the shower, washing the windows, dusting the fans... all the really fun stuff. Well, wouldn't you know that as soon as we get geared up to work on our projects for the day, something in our house goes bust.

This time it was the drain for our kitchen sink and washing machine. Oh it was just so lovely. I ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher and as it was draining, the sink in our utility room started to fill up with all sorts of lovely things like grease and old food particles. Fun. We thought we could get away with some Draino and a prayer. The sink drained so I started a load of laundry only to have the damn thing fill up again. This time with more food particles and grime and dog hair from the laundry. We knew then that Draino wouldn't be enough. Poor Joe had to saw open the pipes and snake the drain to clear the clog. Then he had to go to Lowe's to get stuff to fix the pipe. Poor guy. So he's only now getting to the real chores that needed to be done today.

It really makes me wonder what is so great about owning a home. Sure you get to fix it up however you want. But, once you've been in the house for a while, you're done decorating. And yeah, you don't have to share walls with anyone but you have annoying ass neighbors who hound you about what you're going to do about the dead plants in your flower bed. Oh- you guys don't have one of those neighbors? Hmmm... lucky you. And then there is the matter of the mortgage. You know they expect that every month?! How dare they? Joe and I laugh every time the bill comes in. Like, it's here AGAIN?! Didn't we just pay that?

Don't get me wrong, I do love my house. It is my safe and comfy little cocoon. But on days like today I like to fantasize about leaving it all behind and going to rent a place so that when anything breaks we can call the land lord to deal with it.