The Buerglers

As we flip the calendar to November, we begin the twenty day countdown until we close on the house and move. As I am preparing for this I realized that I've never shared an apartment tour with you.  Eric and I had planned on cleaning the place before we took pictures, but I am glad we didn't.  I mean, honestly, it's humbling to put pictures of my house looking like such a wreck and in the beginning stages of transition, but I think it will be fun to remember what our apartment looks like on the day-to-day of my busiest week of the year. Welcome to our apartment! The entry way (right) and the hallway to Evie's bedroom and bathroom (left) Evie's Bathroom / Guest Bathroom Evie's Room.  Evie shares a room with our storage area and bike racks. I cannot wait until she has her own room and we can paint!!!  In the center of our apartment is the kitchen, living room, dining room.  The last two-three months Eric has turned our dining room into an office. ...

Eric and I have taken the plunge.  After 3-4 years of kicking butt to get out of debt (including car payments!), living on a tight budget, and saving like crazy, we did the math and it's time for us to take the next big step! We have loved apartment life, especially when we were so busy.  It was nice to lock the door and leave for 10 days without even thinking.  It was nice not to mow the lawn, trim the bushes, or worry about maintenance.  All we had to do was clean.  I am seriously going to miss this "easy" living. But, after patiently saving and waiting, we're excited to have some growing room. Our current situation is starting to feel like we're living in an IKEA ad. (though I know Rosemary in New York would probably kill for our sized apartment) Don't get me wrong, we could very easily stay here.  It's comfortable and very do-able, we're just excited that we can spread out a little bit. It's not just the space we're excited abou...

Happy Monday!!! Laundry We're a few loads of laundry in to the switch-back-to-store-products.  I missed my clothes smelling of Downy and the ultra clean feeling clothes.  I am sorry homemade soap and vinegar fabric softener, you'll just have to collect fly away dryer lint until we run out of the good  expensive stuff. Birthday Thank's Starbucks! My birthday was on Friday. Happy 29th (for the first time!) to me!  It was an especially low key day this year.  Not only have I been pre-occupied with baby things and work that I completely forgot my birthday was arriving, I ended up with a nasty 24 hour cold that landed me watching Netflix and eating grocery store hotbar for dinner.  Eh. My fancy dinner date with Eric has been rescheduled for this week.  We had a light brunch at my parents house with my siblings, and Eric's sister and I shared a birthday fondue party at his parents house. Gadgets and gizmos a plenty  One of the...

How far along?   Twenty-Eight Weeks.  Hello, third trimester. How big is baby? I've seen varying reports around the internet from 2 pounds to 2.5 pounds.  I am secretly hoping for an ultrasound at my midwife appointment on Wednesday.  I want to see her so badly, even if it's in alien form. Total weight gain: +33 total.  Once upon a time I thought I'd only gain 30 pounds this whole pregnancy.  I'll be lucky to keep it under 50.  ;-) Maternity Clothes? I can honestly say I didn't buy anything in the last two weeks! Mostly because I don't *need* it and a little because the cooler weather is coming soon and I need to save up for a few long sleeved things before baby comes.  PS: Of course Motherhood Maternity just now sends out a 40% off coupon...hhmm. Stretch Marks?  I pretend that I am over it, but I'm not. They itch. A lot.  Basically new ones are popping up anywhere on my skin that'd (fortunately) be covered by a Be...

Eric and I have a little "roommate."  And I put that in quotes because, well, we didn't invite him.  He's been living in our dining room.  He eats nothing.  No complaining.  No snoring. In fact, he doesn't make a peep. Yes.  He's a roach living in one of our beer glasses.  Now, I debated about even posting this silliness, because who wants to have their apartment exposed as having roaches?  Ew.  Really, we're clean people. You just can't avoid them.  We live in an apartment. In the South.  Get over it.  I did. Eric found this little guy Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast.  He was just staring at us from his Sapporo glass on the dining room shelf.  I look up from my omelet to see that Eric is snickering.  Then I look over at our "roomie on the wall" and sure enough he is trying to escape. I thought for certain, he'd get out of there.  Up, up, up he walked.  And then.  ...

As with any hobby, you have to make time to do it.  But when it's a hobby, it's fun and not a chore.  Maybe that's why I don't mind meal planning and cooking, it's FUN for me!  Eric and I aren't super great about working on a meal plan EVERY week, but not all weeks need it.  A few friends have been asking me about my process, so here it is.... Why did you choose to make weekly menus in the first place? And why not monthly menus like finance books suggest? I first learned of this idea when we were staying at a friend of Eric's house in Chicago.  I saw this cute index card on the fridge with the dinner titles listed with a M, T, W, TH, F next to them.  I thought this was so cool (clearly I didn't grow up with this method) and filed it in my "when I'm on my own" memory bank. Many organization, simple living, and finance articles suggest planning menus at the least on a weekly basis, better on a two week basis and best on a one to two mo...

First I want to say that Eric and I have nothing but the greatest respect for those working through more difficult financial and housing situations than we are.  We know we are very blessed. Eric and I have been married for over a year now.  Surprisingly, the question we get more often than when are you having kids? is when are you buying a house?  Many assume that just because it's a buyers market, and that we're married we should be house hunting.  Well, here's our situation, and we why have chosen the apartment life.  But really it's a bit of our financial story and our steps to become DEBT FREE! This story begins a few years back.  When Eric and I first met neither of us owned our cars, in fact I totalled my car and had to replace in early in our dating years.  We both lived at home.  Because I lived at home I felt like I didn't need to have a "budget".  Boy was I wrong.  Budgets are for everyone! I did not keep track of my mo...