Yes, I am laughing...and crying. Crying because so many of you were there for me..and laughing because so many of you have such pristine, wonderful, stress free lives, that you can't imagine what I must be going through. I really did go through these things with my MIL. At long last, I realized that it was just as much my husband's fault as it was hers, and I have recently kicked them both out of my life. Just one thing...to the lady who questioned my abilities to raise children, and to please not have anymore... HOW DARE YOU!! I am college educated, and make more money then my husband does. I would have never had children unless I was willing and able to raise them alone, should he ever die or we go our own ways. Is it THAT unreal to you that I could be this responsible? Lady, I plan to have more children one day, married or not. If I have the finances, I have the love, and I have the heart for it, I will have 15 more, if that is what I am so inclined to do. And to all you people who do not believe me....well, you have that American right. There are thousand's of soldiers in a war right now preserving your right to not believe me...so God Bless you all. Jennifer

Once more I must agree with Christopher. Land prices, construction prices, laws, regulations, permits, etc. vary widely state to state, and sometimes even county to county, or city to city. Similarly, stick built, modular, and manufactured homes all vary considerably in price, quality, and finance-ableness. Does anyone remember the movie "The Money Pit"? If I remember correctly, it starred Tom Hanks and Shelly Long. The comedy revolved around the trope of a naive couple who think they're getting a killer deal on a beautiful home--a stick built home. But once they move in, the house starts falling apart and they have to sink more and more money into it. It's funny because it's true--most of us, if we haven't experienced it ourselves, know someone who has. In the last stick built home I bought, in 1995, I think it was, we had multiple problems after moving in. I was cleaning a bathroom one day and my son started pounding on the door yelling, "Mom, it's raining in my bedroom!" Turned out there was a length of pipe completely missing! None of the roller drawers worked correctly. The sprinklers in the front yard watered the sidewalk rather than the grass (the contractor put in the front yard as part of the purchase price). And about ten more things. We had to sue the contractor to make him fix it all. That, along with holding back $2,000 in escrow, was the only way to get him to make things right, and that's the only reason we didn't end up with a "money pit." My point is, no one can state categorically that one type of home is always better than another. There are examples of very shoddy homes in all three types of houses, and there are examples of beautifully built houses in each. People buy manufactured homes for many reasons. I see in this thread that some people only see it as a stepping stone to a "real house" as one poster called it. Many people who are retiring sell their stick builts and buy a manufactured home for several reasons: they can pay cash for the MH and have money left over to travel or to live on. A smaller home needs less maintenance. If they put it in a 55+ park, the park may take care of the lawn. And some seniors enjoy the social activities of such a park. Where I live, in eastern Washington state, MHs indeed have been going UP in value. This is because wages are low, and unemployment is high. Many people can't afford a stick built, thus demand has risen dramatically for MHs, even used ones in a park. And when demand rises, prices do too. I bought my MH because of my somewhat unique situation. I bought a junker, an old 1979 SW for $2,000 cash. Over the next three years or so I'm going to sink around $30,000 into it and refurbish it from top to bottom. I have an academic grant whereby I get several thousand dollars three times a year. So I'll do a major project three times a year and pay for it with cash. I'll continue to live within my means on my fairly meagar income. My house will be beautiful and strong and will last at least fifty more years. I don't care about getting my money out of it, because I'm going to live in it for the rest of my life and then leave it to my daughter. I liked the advice from bus_driver. The OP actually DID ask for his advice, not in the original post, but in a follow-up. He laid out his monthly budget, then asked, "How am I supposed to save money on this budget?" Therefore, it was entirely appropriate for him to respond to the question that was directed to him. He, and a couple of other respondents were correct in stating that he (along with a substantial number of Americans) need to increase income and decrease expenses. I've never had a car loan. I drive a 1999 Ford Windstar minivan. I will drive it until it drops. Then I'll buy another car for cash. And drive it until it drops. I currently live in a house on my university's campus with eight other women. My rent is $365 per month. And I don't buy stuff. I buy food, gas, toiletries, and medication, and things necessary for my work. I rarely buy clothes--I haven't bought new clothes in the last 15 months. And when I do buy clothes, 90% of it is from thrift shops. I have to buy special shoes due to my disability, but I wear them for a very long time. I go out to eat maybe three or four times a year, and I never, ever buy fast food. I don't have cable TV (or a TV). My daughter and I go to a movie on Christmas. But if you think my life is squalid and empty, you're wrong. My university has tons of lectures, concerts, dance performances, athletic events, etc., that I can get free tickets to. In the last couple of years, I've seen Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dahli Lama, Jane Goodall, President of Liberia, Mrs. Greenleaf Sirloff, and David Brooks, among others. I've been to champion basketball games, and musical performances, plays, etc., that would knock your socks off. And I recently returned from a year in Zambia, where the experience of another culture was life-changing. Universities all over charge the public nominal fees for outstanding events and performances. And many cities have science centres, museums of history, and other events that are free or low cost. When Neil DeGrasse Tyson had his mini-series a couple of years ago, our local science centre hosted a viewing each week, followed by a short lecture and Q&A session with scientists who are experts in whatever the theme of the show was--and it was free. Check out your local high schools for plays and musicals; okay, they may not be up to Broadway standards, but they are still a lot of fun for a fraction of the cost. And don't overlook your public library! Besides being able to check out everything from the latest bestsellers to very technical stuff, you can check out movies, use the Internet for free, and print stuff out for free (at my library I can print out 75 pages a week free!). They also often have free events of all kinds. My point is, you can save a lot of money but still have a lot of fun and interesting things to do. I recently read that 75% of American families eat out at least three times a week. That's fine if you have no debt and the income to do that and still save money. But that is not the case for most people. And the worst part of it is that most of them put it on a credit card! I don't believe in credit cards. If you only make the minimum payment every month, you could end up paying $500 for that $70 dinner! i have tons of great friends and we get together all the time. We just don't do it at restaurants. I can cook at least 25 meals for my friends for the cost of taking them out once. And we go out, but to the types of events listed above. And back to the OP's original question. Mobile/manufactured homes are a little tougher to finance, especially older ones, for all the reasons other posters have delineated. But the OP's problem isn't that MHs are somewhat difficult to finance. His problem is no one will finance him for anything other than a vehicle because of his current (or current at the time of his OP) financial situation. A poor credit rating and his debt to income ratio, and not having anything to put down on it, are the triple whammy. I would advise him, and anyone in his situation, to take a second job if possible, trade in the truck and buy something for cash, and get his credit rating up over time. I don't live in SoCal, so I don't know if his rent is reasonable, but if he could find something even $100 a month cheaper, that's still safe, I'd advise him to do that too. Anyway, these are things that have worked for me. Each person's situation is unique, and I recognise that some things that work for me may not work for you. And you may have some money saving ideas I haven't thought of. I would not presume to tell anyone how they should spend their money. I have no moral judgement on that--spend it however you want, as long as you adequately provide for your children. I'm only saying, in response to the OP, if your goal is to buy your own house, then this is the advice I would give you, or anyone else who asked. You are perfectly free to take it or leave it with no offence whatsoever taken on my part. And, of course, many buyers of MHs are far more well off financially than I am, although everyone has to live within her or his means. And everyone should have a savings account, in my personal opinion. But not all MH owners or want to be owners have the limited resources I have, and more power to them! I'm definitely not trying to perpetuate the myth, and it is a myth, that all MH owners live in poverty. That is certainly not the case! In fact, I would dare say the majority of MH owners are in the middle to upper middle class, and some are in the upper class.

Thanks lynn2006 and aliris19--love the pun, aliris! We don't have flowers all the time lynn (wouldn't that be nice though?), but I should have taken a new kitchen pic with my beautiful Valentine's Day bouquet--DH drove to the store that Friday morning (after, during? the snowstorms we had) to pick them up for me! Flaten, I have a couple sets of Chilewich placemats (one set I got at Century 21 for something like $4 each--I couldn't believe it when I got home and googled them and saw that they retailed for $20/ea!), so I know how nice some of their materials can be! Here are some pics I have in my PB showing a few of our shades: Guest Bathroom: MB (reflected in the mirror--you can see how sheer that particular fabric is): Guest Bedroom (you can see part of the shade): The shades in the Guest Bedroom and in our "Spare Room" are the prettiest ones we have fabric-wise (IMO), and those have the most texture, too. The shades in the two bathrooms, and our bedroom are solid color, flat weave, and are fairly sheer during the day--we wanted to maximize our ability to look out the windows during the day, while leaving the shades down (on nice days, with the windows open, we raise the shades to the height of the open portion of the window). We have room darkening micro-pleat shades mounted behind the screen shades in both bedrooms. We lower those at night, and raise them fully in the morning when we get up. Privacy micro-pleat shades are available as well, BTW. I haven't seen them in person, but would think they allow more light into the room. Some light does seep in with the room darkening micro-pleats--there are pinholes up/down the length of the shades for the strings that help to raise and lower them. FYI, they do NOT make the Roman Shade style Designer Screen Shades anymore (like the two in our bathrooms, and the ones in our office and FR which are not shown here). They are only available now as a completely flat shade (like the one in our Guest Bedroom). They offer a range of fabrics; from very sheer to fairly opaque, completely smooth through textured, etc. HTH!

I never gardened at all, until I married and became a homeowner. Once I started gardening, it became a life long passion. Growing up, I didn't know anyone who had a garden, then within a year of moving into our own home, I made a new friend who had an organic vegetable garden and that got me started. Is growing food all that difficult? If you really want to be as self sufficient as you can and grow most of your food, I don't think it's all that easy but it can be done. There is a family in California that is a wonderful example of how it can be done even in an urban setting. I'll come back and post his name and some links when I remember his name. Reasons why I grow food? The main motivation, was because I loved doing it. I find it fulfilling. I love the connection with the natural world, being outdoors, watching things grow, observing the amazing coordination of all the elements, soil, water, soil microbes, insects, birds, that allow us to exist. Of course there are other reasons too, that now eclipse my original motivation. The lack of trust in the safety and quality of the food supply used to be my secondary reason, but now I have added to those two reasons, other reasons. I now feel our food supply could be in jeopardy. The state of the environment, climate change, drought, flooding, are having a major effect on crop production. The fact that one particular corporation is trying to gain control of all the open pollinated seeds in the world and replacing them with their own genetically modified seeds that they would own the patent to. Then there are the practical reasons, the food tastes better and fresh organic produce costs a fortune. Is it economically advantageous? Well, I believe it can be, but you have to learn how to do it economically and that takes time and effort and access to raw materials that help in that regard. You have to have a clean site for a garden, with enough sun exposure and clean water, clean soil. If you donâÂÂt have those, trying to make up for that could be expensive. In that case, maybe you have a friend with access to those things that you could help in their garden and share the produce. Is it psychologically healing? For me personally, as I walk out the door to the garden, it feels like IâÂÂm starting the best part of my day. Absolutely, it can be healing and sustaining mentally, physically and emotionally. We were meant to have that connection to the natural world. On the other hand, not everyone loves gardening, but we all have to eat and trying to escape the job of feeding yourself upsets the natural order of things and here we are with all the multitude of problems that developed as a result. What are people scared of? I donâÂÂt believe they are, I think they are distracted by too many other things, and they donâÂÂt always make the time to stay informed and are unaware that there are problems with the food supply. And they probably donâÂÂt have...