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Sure, it was a bit deflating to their ego to go shopping for a 5,000 square-foot home with all the bells and whistles and end up buying a home half that size. But now that they’ve lived in their home for almost four years, they realize it was the best decision they ever made. If they had bought a $450,000 home, would they be happier than we are now? Of course not. Would their friends respect us and cherish their  friendship more? I hope not (if so, then they weren’t really friends anyway). Would their parents be more proud of them? I don’t think so.

So why do it? Why feel pressured to go too far and buy the most house possible—and then live under constant stress to pay for it all.

“Money does not buy happiness; Scripture asserts this, research confirms it. Once you reach the median level of income, roughly $50,000 per year, wealth and contentment go their separate ways, and studies find that a millionaire is no more likely to be happy than someone earning one-twentieth as much.” — Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine, April 27, 2009

What’s valuable to you and your family? What is priceless? Budget for these things first, and then see what you have to spend on a home. In five, ten or twenty years when you look back on your life, what do you want to see? That you barely made your payments on your home each month, or that you were able to do everything you ever wanted to do with your family stress and debt-free? Picture your family in a smaller, more manageable home. Would your marriage be any different? Would your friends abandon you? Of course not.

What kind of home can you afford—really afford?

Source: www.swparents.com