“Life is beautiful”. That phrase was practically playing over and over in my head day and night. What else can be expected from a relatively newlywed mother of a boy and girl (perfect in my opinion), a husband I loved and a job that I enjoyed. But the puzzle wasn’t complete without the hallmark of the American Dream – we were still aspiring home owners and had just embarked on the journey to purchasing our first home! We had outgrown our little apartment and the excitement of becoming home owners soon began to pile up. And then the totally unexpected happened.
My husband lost his job. I felt like my whole world was falling apart (funny how when something bad happens, we forget how “beautiful life has been or really still is). Several months had passed and still nothing. With one income, how were we to buy a home? How could we come up with the down payment we needed? All these questions started to weigh me down. I almost decided to give up and nearly fell into a depression. But this phase was short lived. It was like I heard my mom saying to me with that tough love, stern voice- “You better get your big girl panties on and keep pushing forward”. It finally clicked. I wasn’t going to give up on my dreams because my husband lost his job. I was going to walk the line even if I had to do it on my own.
And so I did. The secret to achieving this goal was that luckily I had listened to the advice of an older, female co-worker many years ago before we had kids. She told me to make sure I had an additional private savings through my job where I saved a considerable amount of my monthly salary for a rainy day. While I didn’t know it at the time, that extra savings was designed exactly for this moment. To save me from failing to attain one of my major life goals- owning a home. And that is how I became a first time home owner under the age of 30.
My one advise for women is first to always make sure in addition to your joint savings plan with your spouse or partner, you have your own secret stash for a rainy day because you just never know. And second but more importantly, never have a dream that depends on someone else to fulfil. You are a queen and the master of your own destiny. You can do anything with the right mindset and actions.
Signed by,
A Queen.