We are Alive!

The Internet is FINALLY working in our home. 

What a CRAZY first week in our new house it's been.

I have A MILLION posts that I have started and will be finishing up the rest of the week about the home, the move and Hunter turning NINE months.

Tonight, however is a venting post.

Really, I am about to VENT MAJOR so if you don't care to listen, stop now.

(another post will be up tomorrow for you to enjoy)

Basically it comes down to having the WORST experience with our previous apartment.

Let me start by saying we really didn't have many problems until recently. 

We felt so blessed to be in such a BEAUTIFUL apartment in a great neighborhood.

We paid a great price and we really loved our first little place together and know it was MUCH nicer than 99% of basement apartments.

HOWEVER... there were a few things I was SO fed up with that finding a home could not have come at a better time (for sanity reasons, I am sure it saved Kevin big bucks in therapy). 

-The yard was NOT kept up. It always looked so trashy. Kevin sent a text message once saying he would mow it and they could take $50 off rent... someone came down and mowed, stopped half way and then the lawn mower sat in the middle of the half mowed grass for two weeks!

-We could NOT control our heat. The landlords had the thermostat covered and locked so only they could control it. Not OK when it's FREEZING cold, especially with a new baby. We would ask for it to be turned up and the answer was to close the vents in all rooms except the bedrooms. So then of course ALL of the other rooms were freezing! It didn't help that the door wasn't sealed/fit properly leaving a huge open area that caused a terrible draft.

(My dad even put painters tape over it when he stayed for a night because it was letting in so much cold air)

-THEY WERE SO LOUD. Kevin has slept with ear plugs our ENTIRE marriage. Mainly because of the noise. The one bedroom wasn't too terrible and I don't think we ever had to talk to them.. this last year and a half however, AWFUL! 

Basically it got louder because it went from 3 people to 7 (that's a good story) living upstairs including a new baby. 

No matter how quiet they "tried" to be I had to send a message at least once a week telling them to be quiet. The worst was late at night or during Hunter's nap.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking quiet during naps?! I am not that way. I vacuum and go about my day when Hunter is napping just fine. The problem I have is when you are vacuuming and stomping around like giant elephants on your hardwood floor right above my sons crib!

Finally (and I promise my venting rage is almost over), the last straw that has really made my BLOOD BOIL is the moving out experience we had this last week. 

Now for those of you who don't know, our lease was month to month because we knew we wanted to buy a home this year. Wasn't a problem for the first few months and then I started to sense it was getting weird. I told Kevin I felt they wanted us out. He reminded me we were on a month to month contract and they could kick us out any time. Still I had a feeling. We came home from a lovely Christmas in Sacramento to a note taped to our door informing us our rent was being raised $100!

Kevin and I both felt the new renting price was more reason to get into a home sooner.

That weekend we found our home. 

We put in an offer back on January 6th or 7th, it was excepted and our home was already underway of being built. We were thrilled.

On March 1st we took our 30 day notice to the landlords.

Turns out they had a Termination of Lease letter prepared for us. 

We would have been homeless on March 31st if we hadn't felt inspired to find a home that weekend.

(Seriously I was in tears when I saw that letter. Tears as I was reassured we were buying a home at the right time, in the right neighborhood and for the right reason. 

PROOF EVERYTHING happens for a reason).

So this "checking out" process has been a joke. 

We planned to get some of our deposit back (minus carpet cleaning) and leave on good terms.

No big deal.

WRONG (and in all fairness we were warned by previous renters)

The landlords are moving some of their children into the basement apartment (that's why they wanted us out) and are a little more than anxious to get them in there.

They asked us if they could go in and do a checkout; list what we needed to fix, paint and clean. 

We gave them permission to do so.

They didn't tell us however that they were having the carpets cleaned that day (BREACH OF CONTRACT)

They also had some RIDICULOUS fix it items on their lists. 

A broken cabinet that I told him over a month ago he needed to fix 

(which had already broken once and he repaired it no problem)

A hole in a door that was there BEFORE we moved in (it was painted over to prove it) and they wanted us to replace the ENTIRE door.

So when it came down to it, after carpet cleanings, we would have only gotten back $276 of our $500 deposit. Yes, that is still a lot of money however, we both had a feeling that even if we cleaned it immaculate and fixed things they would still find something wrong and would charge us. 

For $276 folks... fix it yourself, clean it yourself and paint it! 

Grr.. 

I honestly wish you could feel my rage right now. 

Taken advantage of BIG TIME.

I honestly cannot believe how dishonest, hypocritical and unfair the landlords are being.

Sad that a fairly good experience ended so poorly.

The End.

I do apologize for my brief vent. I am not usually like this but my mama told me never to put up with dumb people taking advantage of you. I actually feel blessed I wasn't there when Kevin went to get this checkout list and spoke with them. 

I would have had some VERY choice words.

My posts are usually so up beat and happy.

This was weird to write.

I'll be back to my normal Kyla tomorrow. 

I promise.

Disclaimer: Our BREACHED lease did say that any conflicts or differences with the landlord/family should be discussed in private and not with neighbors or ward members as to not damage those relationships.

So if you live in our old area, disregard this post. 

Has anyone else had problems with renting? 

I can't be the only one!! 

_________________

Goodnight Readers. 

Hopefully my blood pressure goes down! 

Kyla Asks: Budgeting = Sacrafice to eating well?!!

One of the many things that came along with getting married was combining our incomes, paying bills and BUDGETING.  Luckily for me, Kevin  has been a budgeting fool for years and is a PRO. I, however, have never been good at such a responsibility. When I was single, making the big bucks, I paid bills, bought what I needed and did whatever I wanted with the rest. It just seemed to work out each month... so I thought. 

Kevin and I, in the three months that we have been married, have been working on this budgeting thing. Easy for him and a real struggle for me in some departments. Kevin has come up with an amazing system via Excel where he takes everything that we make in a month and puts it into little "departments". We have departments such as; tithing, food, entertainment, Kevin & Kyla personal, gas, car insurance, cell phones, gifts for others, K2, future savings and many more. 

It seems like every dollar is counted for. I am so grateful that Kevin came up with such a great plan and I can absolutely see (especially in our savings departments) how beneficial our budget has been for us now and for our future.

The greatest struggle/disagreement that has come from this budget is in the food department. We have an amount set and without fail, EVERY month, we have gone over. Given, I am the one who is in charge of the food department because I cook the meals (most of them). I am finding it very challenging to stay within my budget while trying to make sure I have a good home cooked meal on the table every night for my husband when he comes home from a long day of work! What am I doing wrong?? 

The amount we have set for food each month is based on research and asking other people how much they spend. 

I struggle because food is the first thing I want to spend money on. I love to cook and entertain (a trait no doubt I inherited from my mother) and want to be "that" domestic housewife I always imagined I would be. 

"The plan" is to buy food to last two weeks with half the money in the budget, then buy food for the next two weeks to last us until the end of the month with the rest of the money in the budget. FAIL. I have tried so hard to buy only things we NEED for breakfast, lunch and dinners and somehow during that two weeks, I am making a 2 or 3 more trips to the grocery store to get things I forgot, things I ran out of, or things I need for a specific recipe. It so easy in a quick trip to the grocery store to drop another $20-$50 dollars. 

I have tried couponing (a little bit) and feel because of the things we are buying and that we are only buying for two, the saving isn't making a dent in the total at the end of the transaction. Am I doing it wrong?

I have even printed out weekly meal calenders to chart down exactly what we will eat for each meal, on each day to make sure I only buy those things.. It's not working. 

I was raised eating very well. I don't believe I ever had a frozen TV dinner until I moved out to Utah last year. Not that I am making steaks, ribs and other expensive meals every night, but I like to have a good home cooked meal! I like fresh fruits and vegetables in the house and we go through milk, bread, turkey, eggs, cheese, juice and so many other things like we are feeding an army. Are we eating too much??

I know it's possible. My question to you readers is what do you do to keep within your food budget each month? 

How do the groceries you buy last two whole weeks? 

What are your suggestions for a food budget, couponing and meal ideas?  

Part of being "that" wife I always wanted to be; is asking for help when your plan isn't working. I want to prove to Kevin that I am serious about our budget and I want to make it work and still be able to cook good meals! That's why I am asking all of you for your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks Everyone!

Love,

A "cook-aholic" wife :)

PS. Here are some of the things I have been cooking over the months. It's been so fun and I don't want to give up all the good stuff. Bon Appetite!