by Tamara Warta

Created on: March 02, 2007   Last Updated: April 13, 2007

The bay area of California is notorious for its expensive housing. With its convenient drive to the ocean, the location is prime. Home to Google, eBay, and a myriad of other companies that were key players in the dot com boom, it has provided jobs to computer geeks turned millionaires, further driving up home prices. But for myself, a kid growing up there, it was just simply home. It was where my bicycle tires knew the sidewalks and where I was well acquainted with the playground equipment and local library. It was where my parents lived and where I made the greatest of friends.

When I moved away in 2001 to attend college, I had no idea that I could never truly go back. Reality hit the table with the real estate listings in magazines showing asking prices containing far too many digits. Especially for someone like me. After all, I had set out to be a writer and by this time I was also a newlywed. Living in our childhood bay area town was simply out of the question.

My husband and I moved up to Sacramento, which was much more reasonably priced. Still crazy compared to most of the nation, but once a Californian, always a Californian, so we were determined to make it work. Unfortunately a large chunk of bay area residents agreed with us, and while we both worked full time to save, the housing market in the Sacramento Valley skyrocketed. It had become a miniature bay area, and if we wanted to start a family and be able to share that with our parents and other loved ones, then we knew we had no choice but to suck it up and really plan our financial future carefully. Which is what we are currently doing now.

The first step in that planning was to check our credit and come up with a money agenda. While my credit score was definitely nothing to brag about thanks to my irresponsibility with credit cards while still a teenager, my husband's score was decent. However, we both had things to repair, and we began to work on it. Calling creditors, finding out how to remedy situations it can all seem very discouraging and futile. However I knew that in the long run, showing that I was righting my wrongs and moving strongly on a positive financial path was the best thing that we could possibly do.

Setting up a budget was another difficult first step in becoming an aspiring homeowner. Newly wed and kid free, we enjoyed eating out and having fun whenever we pleased. Combine that with our busy work schedules that didn't leave a lot of time and motivation for cooking, and we realized

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