“Home Ownership” Archive
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As someone who is eternally frustrated with Bank of America (who purchased my mortgage from Countrywide), it brought me special joy to see this article.
Do I think it will help me? Not really.
But there’s always hope!
We called our neighbor’s friend to take a look at our furnace. He pulled the whole thing apart, scattering pieces across my living room floor. I eyed him while making dinner in the kitchen, clutching a glass of cheap Merlot, praying his work wouldn’t exceed the unspoken $200 limit I’d placed on it.
Thirty minutes later, he left to purchase parts.
Thirty minutes after that, he returned to install the parts.
An hour after that…
I heard the furnace exhale hot air into our living room.
Woo Hoo! No furnace replacement necessary!
The bill? $179.93.
We were ecstatic about the cost. Much less than we expected. As I reviewed the bill after the repair man left, I noticed his hourly rate – $75. Three times what hubby charges for side work.
Yes, the guy was worth it and I was happy to pay but now all hubby and I can think is…
Hubby doesn’t charge nearly enough. No wonder he’s so busy all the time! We’ll have to review his 2012 prices.
Despite the herculean effort of my husband’s cousin, our furnace is still broken. Our neighbor offered his space heaters to help hobble through the cold evenings, but my electric bill will be screaming at the end of the month if this isn’t fixed soon.
Our neighbor recommended his friend to fix the furnace and we are waiting for a return call.
I have a plan of action. If the heater fix is less than a couple hundred dollars, we’ll pay cash to fix it now. More than that? We pay off our debt next month, pile on the blankets, thank the Lord we live in a moderate climate, and save money to repair it next season.
I refuse to get knocked off course.
Hubby is a plumber by trade but he’s pretty good at everything – except HVAC work. Of course when our furnace broke last week, I went into a full fledged panic. Are we going to be able to pay off debt? Is this furnace going to break us?
In between my cold sweats, hubby was on the phone. Turns out, his cousin is an HVAC installation guy and he owed him one for some plumbing work my husband did a few months ago.
Hubby’s cousin has been in the furnace closet for two hours now.
Whirrr. Click. Whirrrr. Click. Stomp. Slam. Whirrr. Click. Mumble. Mumble. Gzzzzrrrr.
Apparently ‘install’ guys aren’t the same as ‘repair/maintenance’ guys.
I’m sitting in our office, glass of cheap wine firmly in hand, praying the next two hours go better than the last two.
Our budget depends on it.
Things have been going nicely finance wise. Paying debt. Chugging along at a good pace. Then Friday the 13th hit.
No. I’m not superstitious.
Or…
I should say, I wasn’t superstitious.
That was before the furnace and garage door broke. The only two things my husband can’t fix himself. Cha-Ching!
Sigh.
We’re still looking good for a February payoff, but it will be a while before we can save our full emergency fund. I guess hubby will have to wait another few months before I can spring to replace that Charger oven mitt.
My cable company sent me a letter last week. They have a new way for you to monitor your usage. Before I tossed it in the shredder, thinking ‘Why should I care how much I use the internet?’, I noticed the bold print at the bottom that said, ‘Why should you care?’
Gotta give them credit for reading my mind.
Turns out, you should take a look at your internet usage. Some cable companies are introducing limits AND extremely high usage could be a sign of unauthorized usage on your system. Uh Oh! So, being a natural optimist (Haaaaa ha ha ha ha), I ran to my computer, immediately assuming my usage would be high because some wacko had hacked in. A few seconds later, the usage popped up.
2 gigs.
No, not 2 gigs a day or 2 gigs in a week. I’ve used 2 gigs this month. And I’m pretty sure both those gigs are from downloading finance podcasts from iTunes. So much for my hacker. But it’s good to check every once in a while and remember to make sure my firewall is protecting me.
Naturally, I became fascinated with other utilities that let me live out my OCD *er* I mean, ‘monitor my usage to save money’.
Our water company offers ways for you to see how you compare to the average user. Their software allows me to monitor my water usage hour by hour so I can tell if I have a water guzzling washer or if my slab is leaking and I don’t know it.
My electric company uses ‘Smart Meters’ so I can monitor by the minute if I choose. They will also help you figure out where your energy drains are coming from. Old TVs? Energy sucking light bulbs?
OK, so maybe this new found power won’t help free up any time, but it will help cut down my utilities by zeroing in on where the biggest power/water/internet abusers are. And for all the sweet hubby’s out there, maybe you can convince your wife that the old tv is sucking all the power and you could save money if you bought a fancy flat screen.
Or not.
I heard a commercial on the radio today advertising the installation of solar panels to save on electric costs. Here in sunny California, it seems like a good way to go but I don’t personally know anyone who has installed solar panels other than my husband’s grandparents but they haven’t been installed long AND his grandparents have significantly more liquid cash than we do.
Since our debt is nearly gone, we are looking to save a healthy emergency fund, THEN and only then, focus on upgrading our home.
Anyone use solar as a way to save cash and live frugally?
About This Site
My Debt
- Original Debt: $38,495.86
- Added Debt: $1,781.50
- Total Debt: $40,277.36
- Paid: $36,084.36
- Remaining: $4,193.00
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