I know a lot of people wouldn’t even consider this.
To be completely honest, it wasn’t our idea. My mother-in-law called and offered this idea to us and we immediately laughed and shot it down. We said absolutely not.. and yet, here we are absolutely doing it.
Now there were a lot of factors that helped us with this decision that I realize are going to be completely different for everyone, but this is where we were at with out pros list
Pros:
– the house had plenty enough room for us to move in
– they had 30 acres of property, giving our children amazing memories to be made compared to our 1/8 acre concrete backyard
– my in laws both work out of town through the week so the home is empty most of the time
– because of the above, I was always over here daily taking care of animals anyways
– we realized we would save a TON of money
Now, we also were just renting at the time, so all we had to do was put in our 30 day notice. But if you are in the position to do this, and you have a home to sell, then to me that’s even better because of all that equity!
Of course either way this isn’t an easy decision, but it was a great decision for us and I wanted to share how much we save every month by doing so.
Rent: $2,200
Rent now: $0
My in-laws don’t make us split their home payment with them
PGE: $750 (average we live in california & had a 3,000 sq ft rental)
PGE now: $250
We split PGE with my in laws so this is about what were spending now
Internet: $120
Internet now: $0
We now pay for the tv works – youtubetv, netflix, hulu – and my in laws pay internet
Water: $180
Water now: $0
I don’t think I’ll buy a home that on city water again honestly, wells are the way to go
Natural Gas: $150
Natural Gas now: $0
In laws are on all electric, no gas/propane!
Grand Total Before: $3,400
Grand Total After: $250
TOTAL SAVINGS: $3,150
Like I said, I understand this route isn’t possible for everyone. But I do think its worth looking into! Whether you move in with your parents, a sibling, a friend, you could look into the costs of buying a family compound between you and your parents and siblings, you could even just rent out a room in your home!
I definitely think getting creative is a great idea when trying to cut costs and save money.
Living with my in laws isn’t perfect, but it has grown their relationship with my children tremendously, and it’s provided us with a fast track way to paying off our debt and saving up to buy out own home soon.
For us, the extra $3,150 is well worth it.
-S
