<$Wednesday, July 23, 2008$>
Excuses. I'm full of 'em.
| Our finances--and our emotions--have been all over the place lately, with more lows than highs, and I just haven't had the heart (or the energy) to blog about it. Sorry. But here's a quick recap. Two weeks ago: my car died. Ees kaput. Deader than Elvis. The only way to "repair" it would be to replace the engine, which would cost more than the car's Blue Book value on a good day. Husband doesn't want to pay cash for a cheap beater to replace it, and we can't take out a car loan until this house buying business is over with. So for now I'm having to make due with borrowing my mom's van, and renting an economy car on days when she can't loan it to me. Meanwhile, we got Husband's truck running, but after sitting around undriven for three years (yes, really), it needs some work before it's really driveable. And before we can get the work done, we have to get it legal. So it's going to be another week or two before I can start driving it to work. Oh, the fun we're having with the car situation. And then, last week: we failed to get the house we wanted. The seller was willing to negotiate as far as contributing to down payment and closing costs, but not on the price, and even with those concessions he was asking more than the house was worth, so we walked away. The transportation sitch has kept us from being able to have another look at our second choice or check out other houses, but we'll finally get to do that this Friday. Other things happened, too, all at once, the way these things usually go. Lightning knocked out our satellite receivers and screwed up our electrical wiring; thankfully, as renters we didn't have to cover the costs to repair any of that, but it was still hella discouraging. I also finally received a bill for my ambulance ride last November, to the tune of $2,200. According to my insurance, I'm only responsible for about $700, which is a lot better than two grand, but still, that's a great big bill right there. We laughed at the absurdity of it all until we cried, and then we cried until it felt so absurd that we had to laugh. But we hung in there, and prayed, and believed that it would all work out for the best, and everything would be okay. And then, over the weekend, our prayers were answered: we got a letter from an old creditor saying that they owed me a substantial amount of money, some bit of unclaimed property from years and years ago that's been sitting there earning interest all this time. This, of course, seems a little too good to be true, so I'm not going to put any eggs in that basket until I actually see the money in my checking account. But if it is indeed a reliable basket, its holding enough money to do exactly one of the following: A) Buy a car B) Repair Husband's prosthesis and make it wearable again or... C) Completely pay off our credit cards. Oh, man. What a choice. We really, really need a car, and Husband would really, really like to walk again (and I'd really, really like him to, also). But after much deliberation, we both decided that the best thing we could do for our future was option C--getting completely rid of our nasty, evil consumer debt and freeing ourselves from indentured servitude to the credit card companies. Once that's done, we'll be in a better position to be able to afford the other things. Even if we end up having to borrow for them, paying off the card should improve our credit enough that we'd get much better rates that we would otherwise. So, things are finally looking up again. In fact, with the prospect of being debt free looming just ahead, things are looking higher than they've ever looked before, and that's great, because I really need to be on a high right now. Labels: credit cards, debt reduction, house-hunt, personal |
Is it too late to vote for the leg?