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We had a small scare this past week and I thought I was going to have to throw my #NoSpendNovember plan out the window. Tropical Storm Zeta came through Wednesday night and knocked out power out. We expected it and had prepared the house and outdoors. And thankfully other than a few branches and lots of leaves down, our house and property was sparred. We were lucky.

There were many around us that were not. Trees fell on homes. Roofs were blown off businesses and homes. Streets were closed. Flooding…everywhere. (The image below is not my home, it’s from a local news article.)

Damage from Tropical Storm Zeta on a local home.

As we approached the 12 hour mark with no power, I began to get worried that I would lose the food in my refrigerator and deep freezer. The kids were under strict instructions not to open either and I was refreshing the power companies website every couple of days hoping to see an ETA.

Rental Insurance to the Rescue?

I’ve carried renter’s insurance forever. Literally, had it since my first big move after college to Chicago back in the Fall of 1997. And I’ve never, ever filed a claim. Even when our storage unit flooded when we were living in the camper a few years back…I didn’t file. Looking back, I wish I had, but I didn’t even think of it until we had already started purging and moving stuff from the unit.

But this time, I remembered hearing that your renter’s insurance would cover food lost during a power outage from a storm. So I decided to check it out this time.

Our renter’s coverage is through USAA, bundled with our auto policies and my life insurance to get the discount. But I haven’t revisited our coverage in 4ish years, I guess.

It just took a few minutes to realize that with a $1,000 deductible, which I guess is the standard, my food loss wouldn’t even be worth filing. I definitely don’t have a $1,000 worth of food here. So I quickly through that idea out the door and started worrying about my electricity coming back on again.

Is it Worth It?

Now the question, is having renter’s insurance worth it? In reviewing my policy this past week, I noted that my annual premium is $149 (it’s bundled with my auto policy so they are billed together monthly.) I have selected $46,600 worth of property coverage and have no special riders for computers or jewelry or any of that.

And in 23 years, I have never filed a claim. In fact, as I started thinking about this post, I wondered how I first decided to get renter’s insurance. It’s not like I had anything of value or even a lot of stuff back then. I suppose when I called to cancel my car insurance, because I sold my car when I moved to Chicago, they sold it to me. That’s the only think I can think of.

I looked back through old posts to see if anyone else had ever questioned the need for renter’s insurance. Ashley wrote a couple of posts on in back in 2014:

When her friend’s house burned down and they didn’t have insurance
When their rental house flooded and they did have insurance

So what do you think, rental insurance worth it? My answer is yes. It brings a great deal of piece of mind and the cost is nominal.

Did We Lose our Food

Our power came home right at the 12 hour mark. The relief I felt was palpable. (I’m writing this Sunday afternoon and thousands around us still don’t have power. In fact, school was out Thursday and Friday as a result. Please pray for our hardworking linemen and the families who have now lost any food they had in their refrigerators or deep freezers.)

While we are in a much better place financially now, I work really hard to forget I have a savings account and retirement fund so I won’t be tempted to dip into them. This was one of those times, I was truly grateful for the savings I have available in a pinch.

Now to go back to forgetting about that.

Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.

What would you do with a million dollars?

by Hope

“List what you would spend a million dollars on, just for you.”

That was the question I was presented in my weekly journal the 52 lists project. <=this is an Amazon link (not affiliate) to the book I am using, there are several versions if you are interested

It was the second part of that prompt that had me stumbling.

And after I finished answering it, I had another realization. I’m still not prioritizing my debt the way I should. (And yes, I realize this is just an exercise, but it was still eye opening.)

You can see from my answer…that paying off debt was not my first thought. And if I’m honest, it wasn’t my second or third, even though my response makes it look like it was. It was actually an afterthought that went more like “oh, and I should put paying off debt.”

And this made me realize that my mindset is still not where it should be. This has been my biggest downfall…all this time!

I haven’t been selfish enough with my personal finance. I have made my decisions based on what I wanted to provide for others, i.e. my kids, not what was best for me and my future (and consequentially the kids.)

The follow up to this list was to review what making this list revealed about yourself, your priorities, etc. These were my takeaways:

My greatest longing, like bring me to my tears, spend hours sketching and dreaming longing is a home of my own. But I’ve done literally nothing about it. Why?
Right after my house, I would have purchased cars for my kids…(couldn’t use that one since it wasn’t for me,) but really my debt should have been right here on the list, if not before the house. This spoke volumes to me. And is a clear picture as to why I am still in debt. I have got to be more selfish with my finances. (Selfish has a negative connotation, but it’s the only word I could think of that fit.)
I am really not a spender. By that, I mean material things, shopping, those really aren’t something I struggle with or even desire on any level. (That has really created interesting conversations with my boyfriend who has a serious shoe habit.)

I’ve still got ALOT of mindset work to do. I’m getting better. But I’ve still got a long way to go.

If you are looking for some journalling exercises, I highly recommend the 52 lists project series. It’s a once a week prompt that really encourage you to dig a little deeper into yourself. I have gotten a lot out of it.