Lifestyle of a Home Owner

I have spend my last couple Saturdays driving around looking for apartments with one of my best friends who just recently moved back into town ( :) )

Since she is looking for a one bedroom, at the first couple places I would just say I was there to be the chauffeur and then after a couple places I decided I was also there for the decorating ideas. Some of the model apartments were SO cool! Apparently I really like some modern stylings... I'll have to keep that in mind.

What I realized via my comments and the comments of our various tour guides was how much work it is to be a home owner and how different the life style is.

It boils down to ownership and maintenance.

As a renter in an apartment, the complex takes care of all of your maintenance. One of the tour guides even said to call if you need a light bulb fixed.

Obviously this is not the case for a home owner. If you need a new light bulb, you replace it. And of course chances are it is one of those fancy light bulbs that are a pain in the butt to remove and replace.

And it doesn't stop at light bulbs. If there is a hole in the wall, it's not just that it comes out of your security deposit. That stupid hole is there until you convince the husband to fix it. (Thankfully we have not had any holes to deal with)

A couple of the places my friend and I looked at allowed you to pick a color for your accent color in your apartment (how cool is that?). Then by the time you move in, you get a couple walls in a pretty color you choose out of four colors.

As a home owner, you have every color to choose from, but you better pick right because otherwise you'll have to spend another 7+ hours painting that room again.

In an apartment complex, you get to go lounge by the pool and enjoy the pretty smelling flowers and not worry about mowing the grass or anything like that.

In your own home, you have to slave away for hours most weekends to do the weeding, mowing, edging, trimming and by the end you are too hot and tired to sit outside and enjoy your hard work.

So how exactly is this a lifestyle difference? Well I have realized during the last 11 months and especially these last couple weekends that a house is a commitment. Both Dylan and I agreed when we bought our house last year that we felt buying a house was more of a commitment than getting married. Now I agree even more that home ownership is one of the biggest commitments you can make.

It's not just that you spent all this money on one big item and that is is a lot of work to get out of, but it is a lifestyle commitment.

So much of our time is spent working on the house. I absolutely love doing things to the house, whether it is decorating, working on the yard, or arranging a room, I love it.

It is a lot of time, money and planning to own and decorate a house that you can be proud of!

I spend a lot of my waking and daydreaming hours thinking about what I want to do with the house, which I definitely never did before. Most of the weekends are spent working on some project and/or doing yard work and the rest of the time is spent looking around at ideas by browsing online or at the stores.

Not that being a home owner has impacted my social life a whole lot, so it definitely isn't an over-commitment. Dylan might argue it has impacted our hiking time this last month or so though...

You definitely put in as much as you want to get out of it. You are the only one that is going to do it. No HOA, no maintenance crew, you. Overall think it is an enjoyable independence.

Does this make you glad you are a renter or glad you are a homeowner? Or is the grass greener on the other side?