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Since I can’t (and probably shouldn’t) sell it right now, the thought occurs to me that I could save a fortune in housing and commuting costs by simply moving into my parents’ vacant house and putting mine back on the market–maybe a bit more aggressively.

The pros, of course, would be all the money I’d save on the mortgage once my own house was sold, and the fact that I’d no longer be commuting sixty miles a day. I’d save $150/month in gas alone. I could keep my house perpetually “staged” and ready to show on a moment’s notice. And I’d have that extra hour a day; that would be nice.

But there are cons as well. I don’t particularly like my parents’ house. I like my house much better, even if it is too big and in the wrong city. In fact, my love for it has been rekindled somewhat lately. My parents’ house is kind of awkward, needs a lot of work (can you say “deferred maintenance”?), and comes with a tremendous yard–a whole extra vacant lot next door, even. Frankly, all the memories associated with it over the past year or two sort of depress me. I’d feel I was giving up some of my privacy since my aunt lives next door. I’m also not sure if there would be any legal issues although that seems unlikely.

Of course, I could pay someone to deal with the yard (I already do that) and to do the repairs. I’m not really all that concerned about my aunt or my privacy (I rarely throw orgies these days) and it wouldn’t be permanent anyway. I have to take care of the house either way. The idea here would be to live in it until my mom needs the sale proceeds for her continuing care…or dies. At that point, I’d sell it and use all the money I’d saved on a place I liked better.

It’s not something I have to decide immediately but it is one of many things on my mind his week.

Perhaps the greatest thing about being single, childless and pet-free? You can, at 8:00 on a Friday night, say to yourself, “I must take a road trip to the beach and this must happen right now.”

And do it…

Assorted thoughts (without links for a change) on a Sunday night:

• As I expected, the really weird thing to get used to is the calls I’m not getting from my dad anymore. I’ll be using an even smaller fraction of those minutes I so much resent paying for now.
• Realizing that I’ve lost so much weight that my suit now looks utterly ridiculous on me was pretty exciting. Realizing it on the morning of my dad’s funeral–when I needed to wear that suit–was less so.
• As of tonight, the house is in order, the laundry is done, and I actually have a full complement of groceries for the first time in almost a month. It’s nice.
• All the above allowed me to make curry tonight. That was pretty nice too.
• Back to work on Tuesday. That might even be nice.