I was lucky enough to marry a woman that was okay with living in an old, old mobile home that we moved out to a run-down property for 11 years. After the first 7, we started building our house, and built it from the ground up (actually, I guess below ground-up since we built a basement) from savings and current income. It took 4 years to get it to move-in shape, and it is still far from done. However, we have never had, and never plan to have, a mortgage.
There is a lot to be said for not only saving money, but not spending it as well. I see it repeatadly on this site and others that people constantly hire out work that they feel they can't accomplish themselves. Granted, not everyone has 4 years to work in the spare time building their own house, but what better use of your time is there? The fortunate aspect, in my view, was that it was an activity that I (mostly) enjoyed (not drywall, that was awful). I also had control of the quality of materials selected and workmanship, and know who exactly to blame for any problems. We plan to either do a substantial addition to the house in about 5 years, or build another entirely and turn the current house into a garage (that was the plan all along, but you all know how plans change). The crux of my comment being that with a little initiative, folks could give up some leisure time and save (or not spend, either way) a ton of money. It seems as though few people take that route, though. That said, it is great that we live in a country where I'm free to build my own house, my neighbor is free to hire a contractor for it, and we can both think we have a fool for a neighbor!
And one other comment, while I ramble. I mostly agree with the comment of skipping the Starbucks and bottled water....but I've got to say that I'm notoriously bad about going to the convenience store and picking up Skittles, M & Ms and a Skor bar (for my boy, my girl, and my wife respectively). Yeah, it costs $3 and its gone in 5 minutes, but when I come home and share them, I get at least $3 worth of hugs, kisses, and "Thank you, Daddy". Too bad I have to pay for it, huh?
Take care.
There is a lot to be said for not only saving money, but not spending it as well. I see it repeatadly on this site and others that people constantly hire out work that they feel they can't accomplish themselves. Granted, not everyone has 4 years to work in the spare time building their own house, but what better use of your time is there? The fortunate aspect, in my view, was that it was an activity that I (mostly) enjoyed (not drywall, that was awful). I also had control of the quality of materials selected and workmanship, and know who exactly to blame for any problems. We plan to either do a substantial addition to the house in about 5 years, or build another entirely and turn the current house into a garage (that was the plan all along, but you all know how plans change). The crux of my comment being that with a little initiative, folks could give up some leisure time and save (or not spend, either way) a ton of money. It seems as though few people take that route, though. That said, it is great that we live in a country where I'm free to build my own house, my neighbor is free to hire a contractor for it, and we can both think we have a fool for a neighbor!
And one other comment, while I ramble. I mostly agree with the comment of skipping the Starbucks and bottled water....but I've got to say that I'm notoriously bad about going to the convenience store and picking up Skittles, M & Ms and a Skor bar (for my boy, my girl, and my wife respectively). Yeah, it costs $3 and its gone in 5 minutes, but when I come home and share them, I get at least $3 worth of hugs, kisses, and "Thank you, Daddy". Too bad I have to pay for it, huh?
Take care.
. Make sure that you've set enough aside so that you will not be caught by surprise. I made sure to set plenty aside and was glad I did. It came out to be more than I expected. 
