For those you who are just checking in, I am moving. We are not transferring, just moving off base into a rental home. Now usually I counsel military families to take advantage of base housing, so why am I not taking my own advice? Here are the reasons (in order of importance) we decided to move off base.
1. We wanted to live closer to friends and church. Almost all of our friends live off base, about 30 minutes away. Many times we say no to activities because we don’t want to deal with the traffic or the drive. Moving to a different city will help us stay better connected to our church family.
2. We pay a whole lot of money, for not a whole lot of house. We currently live in a 5 bedroom townhome. Even though it is 5 bedrooms it is not a “big” house. I estimate it is between 1700-1800 square feet. We do not have a yard. There is almost no storage in this house. While it is possible to make it work in this house, if there is an alternative, why spend time and money constantly coming up with creative ideas so we can “fit” into our current house.
3. I am tired of dealing with the company that manages the housing on base. Over the past eighteen months we have dealt with a company that refused to let our family use the community pool (too many kids). Failed to provide written copies of many of its so called “policies.” Failed to fix our appliances in a timely manner; oven broken for a month, fridge still making funny noises (going on two months), broken microwave for over a month, etc… I feel like every day I have to put on my gloves in order to prepare for my fight with the housing office in order to get things repaired or to be able to enjoy the same amenities that everyone else enjoys on base.
4. Since we are now being billed for utilities, living on base is not always the “cheapest” option.
Since last December we have been praying about our housing situation. I felt strongly that we needed to move into this one particular neighborhood, but I also didn’t think we should buy a house since we didn’t have a sizable enough down payment. I checked for rentals, but I hadn’t seen any for this neighborhood until last Friday night.
We called the number and come to find out the house I found is owned by a friend of a friend. We saw the house on Saturday and fell in love. It has everything I could have ever dreamed of in a house including a large lot on a cul-de-sac, and a finished basement! It was even in our price range! Before I got too carried away with the house I did the math and found out that renting this house could potentially cost us about $100 more a month during the hottest summer or coldest winter.
After we had the facts we discussed whether the off-base house was worth $100 a month. We decided that since we had room in our budget we could afford to pay a little more in order to get significantly more.
Everything fell into place so perfectly, I am thankful we waited on God’s timing instead of relying on our own timing.
I cannot tell you how excited I am about moving off base. I have one neighbor who I will really miss, but she is moving soon too, so I would be missing her anyway!
For now I am busy driving around the base looking for free boxes. So far we have spent $16 on packing tape, but we have found boxes and packing paper galore since this is moving season for the military. I am hoping to keep the move costs under $200. We are renting a large truck so we can do the move in one day, and that will be our biggest expense. I must say that the military community is great for helping each other out. Just today I had a lady knock on my door and ask if I would like her boxes. She noticed that my porch was covered in boxes and assumed I was moving out.
Even though we are moving to a larger home, I am still feeling the Itch to Pitch. Everything I can pass along, is one more thing I don’t have to pack up and load on the truck!
To the reader who asked if we will still be able to live on half our income if we move off base; I haven’t done a full calculation, but we should be able to maintain our savings goals in the new house. Once we move in I’ll redo the budget and post an update.
So, if I am a little scarce over the next few weeks it’s because I’m packing and pitching! Pictures coming soon.
