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Sep 14, 2015    |       6 comments

Best Day Eveeeeeeeer!

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I was torn on the title of this post. Went with best day ever, but also wanted to write Everything is Awesome, inspired by the lego movie song (check it out here<and now you’ve got it stuck in your head! mwahaha!)

I’ve had not one, but TWO big money-related success stories to share that happened just today!

Success Number One. After posting my morning post about Navient sucking big (bleep), I had to make some phone calls. I’d already contacted my old school in Florida to try to obtain my master promissory note (spoke to them last week, was hoping to hear back this week). Over the weekend, I got a letter from Navient also suggesting I contact the loan guarantor. So I called them first thing this morning and find out (1) they have no information about my loan. They ONLY get the master promissory note if I’m in default and they’re trying to collect (which is not the situation here – I’m current). And (2) the master promissory note would not even solve my issue because it does NOT state whether the loan is subsidized or unsubsidized! That’s the whole reason I’ve been on this wild goose chase! So I call back to Navient with uber-low expectations. My best case scenario is that I’ll speak with a supervisor, they’ll do some “investigation” and that’ll be it. Well, it took a long time (nearly 30 minutes), but by the time I hung up THEY HAD AGREED TO CHANGE THE LOAN BACK TO BEING SUBSIDIZED! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! Apparently they “found” whatever paperwork was missing/lost and were able to verify that yes, indeed, this loan is supposed to be subsidized. It will take 5 business days to show up on my account, but then I’ll be refunded the interest they’ve charged and everything will be gravy (until the next issue that pops up). You know, it’s so crazy. When I speak to them they make it sound like this is a legitimate mistake, not some big scheme to purposely screw lenders out of tons of money (just a quick google of Navient lawsuit returns tons of articles about how they’ve been sued repeatedly for alleged fraudulent practices involving systematically overcharging customers money, etc.). On my morning post I had several people post that this sounds like a class action lawsuit in the making. I’m torn on the subject. Was it intentional and systematic? Perhaps. But it could have also just been poor business management. Not that it’s acceptable either way, and it sucks that I’m the one stuck dealing with it, but I’m just SO SO SO happy this is now resolved!

Whew!

Success Number Two. This morning was a little frantic. I was running late getting ready and getting the girls ready so I decided I’d drop them at preschool and rush back home to get myself ready before going into work (it’s truly SO MUCH EASIER when I’m able to get ready after they’re out of the house. Some days I have to be at school early so I don’t have that option, but today my first meeting wasn’t until 10am, so I was able to return home after drop off). Anyway, I’m rushing. Like….fast. I dropped the girls off and am speeding down the road (literally speeding), when I see those flashing lights in the rear-view and my heart drops to my stomach. I haven’t had a ticket in YEARS (I think since 2009, to be exact). And I was sick. Not only was I going way over the speed limit (53 in a 35mph zone, to be exact), but I had left my entire purse at home!!! I had no wallet, no ID, no registration, no insurance, etc. etc. etc. All I had were my keys and my phone. I was expecting to rack up nearly a grand worth of tickets. When the cop came to my window I was 100% honest (no point in lying). Yes, I know I’m speeding. I was in a huge rush, but that doesn’t make it okay and I was going WAY over the speed limit. Also, you’re going to be really angry at me….I left my purse at home so I don’t have ANY documentation with me. ((insert shoulder shrug and smile))  The cop let me pull up my insurance on my phone and used the registration sticker from my license plate (in Arizona we get a paper registration that you’re supposed to keep in the car AND a sticker registration to put on our plate. I had the sticker on my plate, I just didn’t have the paper with me). I gave him my birth date so he could look up my license. After everything was said and done I left with (drumroll)……ONLY A WARNING!!!!! Yes, can you believe it!? He didn’t write anything about my license or registration and just let me slide on those. In the warning he wrote I was only going 45 in the 35 zone because if he’d written how fast I was really going he said he’d be forced to write a ticket (and get in trouble if he didn’t). I was nearly crying from the gratitude I felt for that officer. I wanted to hug him but settled for a handshake (I’m sure there’s some rule about not letting people hug you when you’re wearing a gun on your hip). I just want to say – cops get such a bad rep these days. They’re always in the news for shooting innocent people and although not all cops are good people, the one I dealt with today was the BEST kind of people! I’m still filled with gratitude and compassion for this guy just thinking about it as I type. Plus, I’ve learned my lesson so I will definitely refrain from speeding, even if I’m in a hurry. It’s unsafe for others and unfair to put other drivers and/or pedestrians in that position just because I’m running late.

So that’s all. What started off as a pretty crappy Monday morning has turned into THE BEST DAY EVEEEEEERRRR!!! And I hope that all your days are going well, too!

Let’s keep the positivity flowing! Tell me something GOOD that’s happened to you lately!!!

Sep 14, 2015    |       2 comments

Hand-me-downs

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We lucked out this weekend!

One of my very good friends recently moved out-of-state. She owned a home here and, although she took most of her furniture, she left a few key pieces in her home for staging purposes. Her mom lives in town so she’s been helping maintain the property while its been on the market.

Well, the house has sold and passed inspection and with the closing date coming up quickly, her Mom reached out to me to ask if I was interested in any of the stuff in the house. My friend’s Mom is a little older and has no interest in trying to sell the stuff through craiglist or something similar. She doesn’t need the money and doesn’t want to deal with the hassle.

So as soon as hubs had a day off we loaded up and headed over with both vehicles (hubs’ work truck & my Explorer). I was expecting mostly artwork and wall hangings. What we ended up with was enough to furnish a small apartment!

We got a new leather sofa, 2 end tables, a nice leather chair, a queen bed and bed frame, some mature potted plants, a big utility shelf for the garage, a couple lamps, some patio furniture, and about a million throw pillows and pieces of artwork.

I was absolutely over the moon!

Right now we’ve got everything moved into our house. We already threw away our old guest bed (truly too old/gross to even donate, as our dog has eaten a hole in the mattress that we have done a make-shift “patch” job, but is not adequate even for donation), we have the couch in the guest room, and we’ve scattered other pieces of furniture and artwork throughout our house (patio furniture in the backyard).  We’ve debated possibly selling some of the nicer furniture pieces (like couch and leather chair), but want to keep it for the time being in the case that we end up moving to a larger place that we may be able to furnish with some of this stuff next year. But it’s nice to know we’ve got possibilities, too, because I do think we’d be able to get a few hundred for the furniture if we were to list it for sale.

These types of scores are few and far between given that we live out-of-state from any family members and from the majority of our friends. But I feel very grateful for these items and it’s also made me appreciate the things we already own that much more. After the “move” (It really felt like we were moving!!! There was so much stuff!) we spent the rest of the afternoon doing a pretty thorough cleaning of our current stuff. It’s been a long time since the couches got a really good scrubbing, cushions removed for vacuuming, etc. Taking care of our possessions is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to make our things last as long as they have. And with any luck we’ll have these new things for years to come also!

Who needs new? Hand-me-downs are good as new, if you ask me (not to mention a heck of a lot cheaper!). Oh, how far we’ve come from the days of financed king-sized beds (remember that???) Never again, my friends! Never again!

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