The time has finally come, and while things may not be exactly how we dreamed this day would be, it's what is going to work best for our family and I am so excited about getting our dream home, BUT for a whole lot cheaper.

WE'RE GOING HOUSE SHOPPING Y'ALL!

For a couple years now Michael and I have always been back and forth on what exactly we wanted our forever home to be and where it would be.

A little back story.

We are currently and have been living on 5 acres that is Michael's grandparents. We have technically been renting a 1996 3 bedroom 2 bathroom "double wide" "trailer house" on the 5 acres from his grandmother for the past almost 7 years. Just so we could get our credit in the place that it needed to be to eventually have our dream house. Lord, has it been a tough and long 7 years.

For the last 7 years we have always dreamed about someday making this piece of land our very own once we got our credit in good standing. Having kids at a young age, going through separations with each one of our first child's other parent, "starting new", and then meeting each other and starting all over again has made it a struggle from the start to make this come true but were finally at a good point in our lives.

We have always went back and forth from the beginning between remodeling the current house we're living in, selling it and building a stick/site built home, or trading in the home for a new "trailer house". Let me tell you, I was all for that second option and NEVER the other two.

"My kids can't grow up in a trailer house". "I don't want to live in a double wide anymore". "These mobile homes are not safe, stylish, or practical".

All of those phrases came out of my mouth.

Little did I know, these "trailer houses", "double wides", and "mobile homes" have stepped up the game and there is a HUGE misconception about them now days.

Just a few months ago Michael and I sat down and was looking at building a barndominium and started doing research, gathering a checklist of everything we wanted our home to have, and some of our favorite floor plans. We reached out to several builders, got "base pricing" for what we wanted and was blown away. Our dreams were crushed. I gave up, in all honesty. Our dream home was way out of our budget.

How could we have worked almost 7 years for let down? Not even being able to have what we wanted and keep it in our price range after all that work tore me down. I hated seeing people posting on Facebook that I graduated with post a picture of them standing in-front of their new gorgeous brick home with keys in their hands. People posting pictures of Instagram of their beautiful decor in their homes and just wishing I had a beautiful home to decorate. 

That's the problem with social media now days, we're always comparing ourselves. Always trying to "be better". When in reality those people are probably they ones that are unhappy, have the biggest debt, and are living pay check to pay check.

REALITY CHECK KERI!

You have to do what is best for your family.

It may be nice to have all the things you want and have your home exactly the way you always dreamed about, BUT why go broke over that when you can have all of that but cheaper. Um, yes please!

So let me tell you this. I was scrolling through Facebook one day and ran across a Clayton Homes post of a gorgeous manufactured home that literally took my breath away. There was no way that this was a "double wide" "trailer house" but it was and it was literally half the price (if not more) of what we would have paid to have a brick or barndominium built. I immediately sent the post to Michael. We looked at several floor plans over the next several weeks on their website and weighed our options and discussed everything. 

I still was in love with the one that popped up on Facebook that one day. 

It's like it was meant to open my eyes and make me realize that we may not all have the same dreams in life but we all have different paths and different ways to make those dreams come true and that it's all in God's hands.

So we got in contact with a Sales Representative from a local Clayton Homes dealer and chatted back and forth with her. After several days, we eventually put in our application.

And now we wait.

We still have a few more lenders to hear back from.

While we are waiting on that we have narrowed down our favorite homes.

Out of the blue I texted Michael one night while I was at work and said that we should go look at some of the houses when I got off work on Saturday. We drove 2 hours to Tyler, TX to get our first glimpse at these homes. My oh my were they breath taking! This got me even more excited!

But in the meantime I had to snap some photos of my favorite home, the LulaMae, so that I could go back and look at these pictures throughout this whole process.

I also did a walk through video of our top two home picks.

ENJOY!

Stay tuned for more updates as we go through this process.

It's definitely going to be fun one!