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| Friday, November 04, 2005 |
| How my Aerobed saved me money |
When I was shopping for my current home I initially had a three bedroom house at the top of my "must haves" list. One room for my bedroom, a second room for my home office, and a third room as a guest room. The three bedroom home is the most popular size/type home in the U.S. According to this report
housing units containing three bedrooms are most popular and account for 48.4 million (40.6 percent) of all housing units (see table 6). For me, most popular also equaled most expensive in my price range. Once I started looking at properties with less than three bedrooms I started seeing more affordable homes. When I revisited my list of how I planned on using the three bedrooms, it quickly became clear that the third bedroom (guest room) was was the one likely to see the least use.
This is where my Raised Aerobed came into play. I had seen commercials for this product, but had never actually slept on one. Then, shortly after I found my current home, I found myself waffling on bidding on the property because I would not have a "guest room" in my living area. This prompted me to purchase an Aerobed. I purchased mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $299 - 20% off coupon = $239.20 + 5% sales tax = $251.16 and slept on it. When I woke the next morning I called my real estate agent and bid on my house.
When guests come to stay with me, I inflate the Aerobed in either my home office or in the dining room, depending on the length of stay. By giving up the need for a third bedroom I saved myself at least $20,000 - $35,000 on the price of home I purchased. I also saved having to furnish a guest bedroom (bed, bureau, carpet, curtains, etc.), not to mention the cost of heating and cooling another room.
Another way the Aerobed has saved me money is when I take it on the road when visiting friends. A trip to Vermont to go leaf-peeping no longer means getting a hotel room, now I am invited up and told "bring that Aerobed I slept on when I last visited you - we can set it up in the living room" or "I can make room for that Aerobed in my studio on the Vineyard - take the ferry and bring it!" Friends and relatives with small homes or vacation spots are much more comfortable inviting me to visit since they know I come prepared with a comfortable place to sleep.
The Aerobed has become my thirty-something year old version of the sleeping bag. A truly smart thing to invest in.
Now discount sites like SmartBargains.com sell the beds and they are even cheaper now than when I purchased mine almost two years ago.
- Overstock.com Aerobeds for sale
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| posted by Boston Gal @ 7:27 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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Hi
I was wondering if you can make a post on how you planned and budgeted for the four years you built up $80,000 down payment fund for your house?
I would love to find out how you achieved your goal! It'll give me some hope! Thanks.
Poe
Orange County Budget Living
http://www.ocbudget.blogspot.com
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Link is up...thank you for the trade (^_^) and helping me with this month's goals.
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Hi Poe,
I will put my down payment saga on my list for future posts. I will be sure to ping you when I get around to writing it!
Thanks for reading,
Jane Dough
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I totally agree. I slept on one at my sister's house and it's fantastic.
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I loved reading this...I am a firm believer in "mixed use" space (a la "not so big house" etc) and we currently have a very small room that is filled with...er...clutter, but I want to turn it into a useful room for storage, reading, AND a guest room.
I was thinking the folding futon route but the space is so small that might not be idea. With the aero I now realize we can take it with us on the road (thereby solving some staying with family problems we currently have due to lack of comfy sleeping space at times)
Great post Jane!
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Hi
I was wondering if you can make a post on how you planned and budgeted for the four years you built up $80,000 down payment fund for your house?
I would love to find out how you achieved your goal! It'll give me some hope! Thanks.
Poe
Orange County Budget Living
http://www.ocbudget.blogspot.com