When we bought our house in 2012, we bought it from a company that buys bank foreclosures or tax forfeitures and flips them. They had gutted the house, but then the owner’s father had a heart attack around the same time, so they stopped working on it and never started back.

The house was empty for around 4 or 5 years. At least one person or group had squatted here — there was evidence of a fire on the floor in one of the rooms. Kids shot a bb gun or pellet gun at most of the windows, breaking them.

It took about 3 years of working nights and weekends (including the time it took to save money to pay an electrician and plumber, since my city insisted we used licensed plumbers and electricians). We had to get out a loan for the central heat and air, but otherwise we paid cash, and we own the house free and clear. Which is good, because we fell for a scam at a local dealership and were upside down on our car before it broke down last year on the way to Vermont for the memorial.

We only did enough to pass inspection and get a certificate of occupancy.

The front room was full of boxes and things we brought into the house from the grandparents house when we moved in. Friday, we spent 4 to 5 hours cleaning up the mess. We still need to organize the things we kept, but it’s looking a lot better.

I’m hoping that once we get it organized, we can start making progress on the loft and finishing the front room. I would love to gave the rest of the house done, and would like to renovate my kitchen and current working bathroom. I have a lot of plans, but it’ll take some time to finish.

I’ve been working on my writing becaue that’s one way to get more income. That will help us to pay off our loans, allowing us to become debt free.