And I was holding out hope for August

(not my puppy)

until we all had dental check-ups. Now there is at least $1,000 worth of dental work on the calendar between the 4 of us! Maybe we'll just eat toothpaste for the next month or so....you can always find toothpaste for next to nothing if you watch for the drugstore deals!

It will be an absolute miracle if we can come out of this spring/summer without adding to the debt. Between the flood damage, invisible fence and shots for the puppy, the extended road trip, and now the dental work, it is taking its toll.

Overtime during this season of the year has to be approved, but if I find any....I'm definitely signing up for it!

Did you see?

the pictures of the new home Money Saving Mom and her family bought WITH CASH????

She has links to the story of how they saved the cash for their first home at the bottom of the post.

Did you miss me???

We just got home from a 10-day road trip! I don't even want to start adding up how much money was spent!! But there's not much I can do about it now.

The first part of the trip was for my daughter to compete at the Nationals with her dance team. They had a great competition! So exciting for her and all the teams at the studio.

The second half was a different type of obligation: Even though I'd rather forego spending the money, the dance team Nationals were held almost halfway to where my parents live. They are certainly not getting any younger (86 & 81), and I'm not sure how many more visits we'll actually be making to see them when both of them are able to actually enjoy us being there. I know it's good for us to spend time with them....those chances are limited. Some things outweigh the financial decisions.

Thoughts after the Nashville Flood

I know I've fallen behind on posting monthly updates. I've actually fallen behind on quite a few things. I really don't think it's due to the busyness that comes with the school year ending, preparing for dd's dance recital, or even trying to keep up with the workload of my day job. Honestly, this flood has affected me more than you would anticipate.

Yes...we've been thrown into an immediate "home repair" project which leads to chaos inside the house and that unsettling feeling when checks are flying out the door faster than you can keep up with them. It's strange how each individual reacts differently to crisis.

My husband has been short on patience because of the "mess" that comes with trying to live in a space that the flooring and baseboards are ripped out, tools and saws sitting around everywhere, everything out of place, laborers that don't do their work exactly the way he would. That is the chaos that makes him crazy. (The good news is that he's 100+ days sober...although there were a few days I highly encouraged him to leave the house and hit an AA meeting ASAP).

On the other hand, it drives me absolutely crazy to have this project going with no pre-planned budget, uncertainty just where the funds are going to come from, or exactly how many dollars it's actually going to cost! So I've suffered from my own dose of stress and anxiety. And, in typical fashion, I've done my best to ignore the whole checking account for the past three weeks.

But more than that, it's the stories out there of those who have lost everything. I think they call it "survivor's guilt". The stories that really hit my heart are the elderly (70 and 80 year olds) with paid-for homes who were just getting by with their Social Security checks. Now some don't even have home to go back to and others don't have the savings to restore what's left into a safe and habitable place. To think that their entire financial well-being has been destroyed by something no one ever saw coming is just beyond what my brain can fathom right now. Because I'm one of those weirdos that actually reads the public record section of the newspaper occasionally, last week I found out that some of my closest neighbors were just days away from foreclosure. Although we're close, we really don't discuss financial issues, and I'm not comfortable bringing it up with them. But I spent a couple of days in constant worry and even one night where I dreamed of nothing but mortgages, loan balances, courthouse steps and more mortgages. Talk about a nightmare!!!

Anyway, it's kind of been three weeks where the glass feels even more "half-empty" than usual. I'm trying to dig my way out of the funk because I know that pessimism doesn't help any of us!

Updates to come later in the week. It's getting late, and I definitely don't need to start off another busy week more sleep deprived than usual. I do hope it's a good week for you!

A Landlord Epiphany

I just realized it is a Good Thing to be Facebook friends with your tenants. 'Cause when they post photos on their Facebook page, you can get sneak peeks inside your property and make sure it's being taken care of.

I am so blessed to have found such a sweet family to rent our old place.

A Mental Bucket problem

I'm the first to admit that I have issues with my financial "buckets" or compartments. In my mind, there are many different buckets. I've already told you about the bucket of money given to me by my Dad.

Defining these buckets is not always a bad thing. When I've gotten distributions from employer pension plans, I've never had a problem rolling over 100% to an IRA because in my mind it was pension money. Therefore, my brain thinks it should always and forever remain pension money.

The problem I'm having now has resulted from a comment SS4BC made on this post. Mathematically, I know she's right about not paying extra on the Rental HELOC (4.99% for 15 years) while I still have credit card interest at much higher rates (ranging from 4.99% to 11.99%). Why does my mind make me want to use the rental income only for expenses that relate directly to the rental property?

I have an extra $205 in the rental "account" this month that I'll be sending to a savings account that was set up solely as an Emergency Fund for that property. My goal is to fully fund that account with 6 months of rental property expenses (including annual property taxes) plus the tenant deposit that I might have to return at the end of the lease. Right now, I'm about $1,500 shy of the goal so the $205 will help with that shortfall. But I'm already tormenting myself with the decision I'll have to make if that Emergency Fund ever reaches fully funded status.

Will I be able to actually use any extra rental income to pay off the credit card bills? I'm not sure, but I'd love to know if anyone else struggles with decisions that aren't mathematically correct but give you peace of mind.