Now I’m the first to say when I started making money as a young student, it was exciting and a whole new experience. Lululemon and dinner out with the girls every weekend right? Sign me up for that life! But, as my parents have raised me to be, Ive had goals for as long as I can remember. And one big one was to stay at home for my schooling, continue to own my horses and ride, have my own car and stay in the farmhouse that I love oh so much. I chose this path to save eeeevery dime I made to put towards school to graduate debt free (which I did!), and yes – the big goal…
The Goal
So you may have already guessed what that goal may have been. My first year at university I couldn’t help but think.. am I missing out on the ‘joys’ of living away from home? To have my own apartment? Shop for my own groceries? Was I missing out? Well being apart of a varsity team, I almost had multiple ‘home away from homes’ that gave me that experience. But I couldn’t help but want that ownership for myself. So after many discussions with my parents, they really explained to me how much money renting a property is, and how your money isn’t going back into some sort of investment, its literately going out the window. All my hard earned money not being invested back into myself? No thanks. Now I completely understand if I had my eye on a program at a different university or wanted to play for a different team, I completely understand renting is the only option after your first year at residence. No brainer there. However post University what was I going to do? Rent until I could afford a home with Mr. Right? (At this time I’m only a first year, Brandon & I met in my 3rd year!) Or stay at home until I could buy my first home? Well I exhausted a lot of options, but it wasn’t until I found this resource to get my savings on track to own a home by the time I was 23.
I decided to pursue a resource my bank provided for its clients. A financial advisor. Now within banks typically these resources are free of charge, because they hope to have your business for life. I quickly bonded with the woman at my bank, and I poured my heart and dreams to her and told her I wanted to own a home with or without a ‘significant other’. And here’s how I did it! I paid a ‘fake mortgage’ payment to myself biweekly for 4 summers. Yes – only 4 summers. Not years, because as a varsity athlete, my schedule only allotted me to work in the summer time for 4 months. This fake mortgage payment came right out of my pay checks into my savings account where I couldn’t touch the funds. And boy was it fun to watch it grow. I committed to saving a down payment of 5% of what I was approved PLUS another ‘down payment’ to have as a slush fund when I first purchased my home – for lawyers, upfront Reno’s etc. So you may think thats a lot of money to come from my pay check every month, but honestly I didnt miss it. It became normal to me to not even think about that money. And boom. I graduated University and I had some serious cash in the bank. I was ready, all I needed was the big ticket. And that was a full time job to prove to the bank I had an income to support myself.
How Samantha Ann & Co. (formerly Krieger Customs) was born
Now like any eager University graduate. I hit the ground running. BUT like what felt like minutes into job searching I hit a wall. I was burnt out. 5 years of University, Varsity Volleyball, working EVERY day at a high paced restaurant as a manager for 5 summers. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. So I did what others may think is a silly or scary thing to do. I ended my summer job the October of 2015, and I gave myself a holiday until January 1st 2016. I needed time to just enjoy no commitments, no deadlines, no job interviews until I felt rested, inspired and motivated to enter ‘adult life’. BUT little did I know… I wasn’t going to be lounging on the couch binging Gossip Girl and reading 10 books a week, I was going to get busy. Because thats the blessing and the curse of being a highly motivated independent woman right? I count my lucky stars the universe made me take this break, because it opened so many doors!
November 2015 I had this crazy idea I wasn’t going to waste any money on Christmas presents, I was going to make them with things laying around the farm. Scrap wood, natures materials etc. So like any DIY enthusiast you search Pinterest for inspiration. Wood signs. Heck I could do that right? My dad had a huge wood shop full of tools (little background info – my dad is crazy talented, I was in the wood shop at a young age shadowing him, so I felt comfortable operating these machines!) and I knew I could source out free wood. So off I went, I created 6 signs out of old pallets I found around the farm, refurbished the wood, bought some Dollarama paint and paint brushes, and ouulaaa! I had 6 signs that I could gift to the woman in my life that Christmas. My mom was pretty impressed, and she said I should post pictures of them to my social media. So what the heck I did. I had so many likes and comments that inspired me to do more. I kept thinking of new designs and new shapes of wood signs. One night I swore I dreamt it, Krieger Customs was going to be the name of my wood sign business. And boom – my small business was born literately over night. Thanks to a free Facebook business page and word of mouth, I made about 40 signs that ‘Christmas rush’ and I was just FLOORED. I was making these signs with my own two hands and people were buying them! Whaaaat!
People to this day still ask me if I do KC as a full time gig. Not quite yet friends! But I wanted to share with you this MAJOR road block that came across my path as I was ready to pull the trigger on my first home. Do y’all remember I said I was giving myself until January 1st 2016 to start job hunting? Well, February 2nd 2016 I was hired at my first corporate job within a Canadian business that had a branch in Peterborough, Ontario. I was overjoyed! This is it – that big ticket. Big pay check each month, benefits, perks of the 9-5 life! On paper it was the job for me!
The ‘dream job’ turned nightmare
Want to know a crazy twist? Within 2 weeks I knew I haaaaaated it. How could I hate this? Its what I wanted? I was picked out of hundreds of applications and I ended up hating it? How unfair. My goal my DREAM is to have that house. I was already looking at listings at this point, every morning at work when the paper came. I started resenting going to work – at 7am might I add. I was miserable, I was taking it out on Brandon, my family, my life in general. If I met me then I wouldn’t of liked me, I was uninspired, flat, boring, and tired. I knew I had to make a change, but thinking ahead, I needed substantial experience on my resume. I stayed in my job for 8 months and I then gave up the goal of owning my own home at 23. You know why? As soon as I signed on the dotted line I knew I had to stay in that job until I found a new one to keep up with my payments. And that to me was not worth it.
September 2016 I quit my job. I don’t want to say I ‘gave up’ on my goal – I just shifted it…
My sign business was doing well, and I knew I could work part time for the company my mom works for at least over the Christmas rush. I shifted my goal to be ‘Own your first home at 25’. I gave myself another two years to keep saving, keep looking, and just pray that things fall into place. And boy they did. April 2017 I landed my dream job. I knew this was the moment. The moment that things were going to ‘fall into place’. Brandon met his goal as well, landing a dream job in his work force. I knew we were finally on the right path, and just right around the corner we were going to accomplish our goal. Sure enough not even days after meeting our career goals, we were going to meet our House goal too. You can start reading about How we found the Morganston House here.
Looking back I wouldn’t of been able to be financially ready if it wasn’t for making this finacial goal for myself at a very young age. It still boggles my mind they dont teach us this in school, but I hope if you are creating goals for yourself regarding your future, that this tip will help you in some way. Money isn’t everything, but if youre smart about it, you really can dream up the life you want to live and actually DO it. Start dreaming friends!
Talk soon! Sam xx
