Divorce & Downsize
So this is more of an intense update since my last couple blogs.
As the title of this entry implies... We are getting a divorce. I'm not going to go into it in loads of detail here, but it's something that needed to happen (regardless of how happy we may have appeared) and the decision will likely benefit both of us in the long term. We are being amicable, he still lives in the house today but we have a deadline date set for him to be moved-out by (Saturday June 3rd). He has plans to move his stuff (which is 90% of the furniture in the house) to a storage barn at his aunt's house and likely move in with her for now too. As far as splitting everything - it's been very clean and fair. Everything was either in his or my name already, we did not share loans/deeds/etc so there literally is nothing to fight over. No kids certainly made this easier too. All papers are signed, court date is in July and no lawyers are being involved.
I told him that as long as he lives in the house, that it is only fair he keeps contributing to the bills/expenses as he always has. And that when he moves out I will take over; and we will go to the credit union and separate our bank account at the time that he moves out. He has been agreeable to all of this and since this process started nearly a month ago, he has not done anything shady like hide money, hold back his paychecks, refuse to contribute, etc.
I am taking this life change as an opportunity to further, or pursue my desires to downsize/minimize and reduce my financial overhead - considerably.
I have run a sample budget assuming running the show with just my income - and it's doable, just shrinks my snowball a little. Obviously some existing expenses would no longer exist, and others would shrink such as grocery, gas & car insurance line items. But I would like to look into selling the house.
Keeping a 3bd/2.5ba 1490Sqft house for myself and my 2 cats is pretty ridiculous. Home prices in my area have soared since I bought in 2013. A lot of trees across the road were cleared since I purchased, a church was built actually, which opened up the waterfront view quite decently. The house was appraised in December last year (I was going to refi to 15 or 20yr loan, but that fell through) and the appraised value was $235k - I bought for $165k.
I know that I can't make any big decisions until after the divorce is final. But I am extremely confident that me staying in the house isn't the best plan. Should I hold off on conversing with realtors or doing any research until the divorce is final? Or is it OK to look into things this early? My vision or dream for the future, ultimately, is currently to downsize to a (used) 5th wheel or towable home, and put it on a slice of land in my area that I could build on down the road. Also, I would love to travel.
I have been avoiding spending a ton of time at home because it's become a little more awkward since he and I still share the home. I visit friends and family & have upped my time spent at work and doing workouts at the studio after work, so I spend a bit less time actually at the house. Just keeping really, really busy, basically. So I am fine, I have a wonderful, huge support circle, and for the most part, the people in my life that matter to me understand what is happening. I guess I am just in a place where I want to make decisions but it's just too soon for me to be able to... So the only thing I can do is take it day by day!?
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