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It’s been an interesting week of reflection and perspective. Over the weekend I watched Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. It was eye-opening and heart-breaking. While I feel that my situation is difficult and I’m struggling, I am in no danger of losing my home. Even in the midst of all of the current craziness – I never have been. I purchased my home during the time when all the questionable loans were being given. My loan was structured so that I paid interest only for the first three years, then began a variable rate (every 6 months). When the rate first changed, my monthly mortgage payment increased by $300, but it has actually gone down each time since. My second loan (the 20% loan) had a stable interest rate for 3 months, then it went up and my payments doubled. Fortunately, I was able to qualify for a loan through my bank and those payments are now stable. Unfortunately, I also chose to roll in some of my consumer debt. The result is that between the two mortgage loans, I am upside-down in the house.
But I digress… I did have a setback last week. Pete does not handle his money well and though I’ve tried to help him, is not committed to this budgeting thing. So, he got himself into a bind and asked me for help. I admit right now that I have enabled him and did so again last week, but this is truly the last time. He needed $600. I didn’t have it of course and was not going to use my credit cards. So, I extended my loan through the finance company. Definitely a move that is taking me away from my goals. But I’ve done it now, so I have deal with it. Worst case scenario - he doesn’t give me the money to pay it back and I’m stuck with it. Better case scenario (and what he’s said he will do) – he’ll pay me the money in 2 installments to pay off this new amount I’ve borrowed. Best case scenario (which I plan to present to him) – is that over the next four months, he gives the money to pay off the entire loan. Why the whole loan? When I thought about it, I realized that although I had a specific purpose for borrowing the money last fall, I ended up using it to help him. So, that’s the plan. Now I just have to find the right time to talk to him about it…
So – here I am reflecting and seeing things from a different perspective. I realize that although I created an April budget, my anticipated expenses were $200 more than my expected income. Reviewing the budget was on a checklist in the very back of my mind… I knew I needed to do it, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have make decisions, sacrifices… The thing that propelled me to move was that I had to contact someone to check my air conditioner and get a pest control consult (the joys of home ownership). The AC guy hasn’t been able to schedule me yet, but I met the pest control man yesterday. He confirmed my suspicion of termites – luckily they were not the workers, so I shouldn’t be worried yet. He also identified millipedes (which have been finding their way into the house for a couple of weeks now). AND (deep breath), he said he saw rat (yes, rat) droppings in the attic. How do rats get in the attic? I caught a field mouse in the garage a couple of months ago, so I asked if it could possible be from that, but he insisted that it was rat droppings. Of course I panicked - I had to find a way to put a pest control contract in my budget!
When I saw that I have no room to add a quarterly $75 payment to my budget (plus the fact that the company could not treat for the “rat”) and talked to my dad who had just gone into my attic last week, I calmed down. I will continue to spray for the millipedes and even though my father thinks it unnecessary, I will probably get bait for the attic…
I’ve digressed again! Back to the budget – I needed to shave off $200. So, I deleted the $100 that I was going to put towards the emergency fund and shaved $50 off the Fuel and
