Feeling Better

Thanks to Maureen and Chris for their words of encouragement after my last post. I'm definitely feeling better about it. It was just a small stumble and now I'm right back into saving.

I am hoping that by around October of this year, I will be ready to purchase an investment property. This is my main financial goal for 2011. I will be using the equity I already have in my house to purchase it and then have renters in it. I am planning to buy in a rather expensive area but also one that has high rent returns. I think this is a good financial decision for me as I am buying where I want to live in 5-8 years, giving me the added bonus of having a place to live when I do eventually move.

So why am I waiting until October? Well, I would like to build my emergency fund up to around $20 000 to cover any expenses I will have as a landlord and to cover mortgage payments if I am unable to rent it (highly unlikely in that area but something I want to be prepared for just in case).

As such, I will have to live extremely frugally this year. Every spare penny will be going into my emergency fund. I'm excited about finding new ways to save while still living a good life (I'm of the belief it can be done!).

So if anyone has any tips, articles or blogs, please send them through!