Appreciation for the Calm

Starting 2022 amidst the most widespread outbreak of a 2+ year pandemic has ironically led to a slowing down and calm pace for my life. We've been lucky enough to avoid infection thus far, so now that the rates of Covid transmission and hospitalizations are higher than they've ever been, we've elected to reduce the number of activities we are engaging in at present as a mitigation strategy. The kids are still going to school and taekwondo (masked, thankfully), Min is doing whatever shopping we need, and I am going in person to work most days of the week and taking my Mom to doctor's appointments, but we've mostly curtailed other activities. Even though there is no government mandate to refrain, we find it prudent at this time.

Water always makes me feel peaceful. This is the Monocacy River near our home.

For me, this means no gym classes, no dining out, and no gatherings indoors. What's strange this time is that it seems as though very few other people are limiting some of their activities, despite the fact that our hospital is operating in crisis mode and our school staffs are dealing with absentee rates so high that we are discussing possible short-term contingency plans for in-person instruction. The local college I work with has already decided to stay fully remote with virtual instruction through February 6. There's no guidance to help the public in how to navigate what's happening now, and the CDC Director was describing it as "encouraging" that people like me with immune suppression and diabetes are the people that are dying from this round of infection. I digress...

The kids decided to prepare us breakfast for our anniversary (12 years--WOW). It was quite sweet.

Far from feeling deprived and adrift as I did in the early weeks of March and April 2020, I feel an ease of slipping back into the routines and joys we discovered when the whole world shut down. I find myself grateful for the beautiful nature in our neighborhood on my walks, for the free yoga challenge online, for a wonderful dance instructor still having Sunday Zoom workouts, for more time to play board games with my kids and cook healthy meals. I have enjoyed more time to rest and read, dig into my grad classes, write in this blog.

My little snow bunny.

I feel a kind of contented ease that I don't really recall enjoying in the past. Perhaps, I have just become more comfortable with existing in the present moment and enjoying the company of my family. Maybe I like the excuse to ruthlessly cut nonessentials from my life. Or maybe it was the first huge snowstorm of the year which always makes the world look brand new. Whatever it is, I like it. I'm going to try to cultivate this essentialist approach to my time and enjoyment.

Here's a little hope into the world that we can stay healthy and joyful, even if the world feels like it's conspiring to keep us from those things.

About that Emergency Fund: Roof Replacement

 Originally Posted on June 12, 2018 in Free, Fun, Family

Ours is the end unit. See that roof with those two leak holes–I mean skylights? This is from three years ago when she was already an old lady. Farewell, girl. RIP.

We’ve known since we moved into our beloved home five+ years ago that we were due for a new roof.  The house is 24 years old with the original roof–four years past the maximum expected for the current roof.  We’ve known that we were going to have to cough up $4,000-$8,000 at some point, but we kept hoping we could save up for it after debt repayment was complete.  This weekend, the rain finally won–we have a small leak around the skylight in the master bathroom.

I’ve had a variety of emotional responses to a major home repair in the middle of finally mastering debt and crawling out of our hole.

“It’s not fair!”  It’s not.  Toughen up, buttercup!

“Maybe we should just repair it and wait?” (This is the method Dave Ramsey recommends, by the way, which made us give it more thought than we really should have since we knew the roof was past its time).  Wait for what?  The drywall to soak through and mold to start growing in the attic?  Our debt payoff will take another 21 months or so.  No thanks!

“What’s the point?  Every time we get a little bit ahead, we just get sucked back into debt!” This is a dangerous line of thinking for me, because when we emergency replaced our HVAC unit last summer (where a substantial portion of our current debt comes from), I gave into this and it caused me to increase our debt in the second half of the year because the number just felt too high and ridiculous!

“You could use the IRA contributions… you haven’t touched them to pay off your debt, but this is your HOME!  It’s an emergency!”  Yes, but it’s one we knew was coming and should have planned for.  Just like we should have managed our finances better and not been in this precarious debt situation in the first place.  We did this to ourselves–the IRA is for retirement.

I knew I needed to do something different here.  We needed a new roof.  Ultimately, being stingy here would make the final costs much greater.  Instead, I took a deep breath.

I looked at the big picture of how far we’ve come in four months.  We’ve reduced our credit card/consumer debt by almost $7,000 in just four months.  That’s enough to pay for the roof plus some!  Our habits are changed.  While we have a big vacation coming up that was planned pre-debt-elimination, and we will enjoy it, we have no other major expenditures planned/anticipated for the next few years other than the roof.  We have some things we WANT for the house, but really the roof was the last thing hanging over our heads as a NEED.  We have $1,000 in the emergency fund and can tighten our belts even more in the coming months.  I know I’m getting a raise in July (final amount pending, but it was approved by the governing board) and that our frugal habits are sustainable.  We can do this!

We took a few bids from local, highly rated roofers and decided to go with a local guy who could squeeze in the job while Min and the kids are in Korea, so they don’t have to deal with a construction site one day.  He quoted us a touch over $6,000 ($4,800 for the roof and $1,200 to replace the skylights).  His bid was in the low-middle of the offers (ranged $5,500-$7,000).  This guy, specifically.

Now, how to pay?  We could put it on a credit card, but I’m so focused on paying off that debt, I really don’t want to add to it.  It would feel like a step backwards.  I looked into home repair and home equity loans.  Too much paperwork and fees!  In the end, I decided on a $5,000, 3-year personal loan with an interest rate comparable to our (low interest) credit cards, no origination fees, and no prepayment penalties.  Hopefully, we can zap the balance when we’re done paying off the credit cards, but this will keep the loan manageable and fast.

Bye, bye emergency fund!  I guess I am going to have to try to sell off some stuff to restock it to $1,000 quickly.

This journey to gain control of my finances has made me feel more confident about this emergency, even with the fears of hopelessness, than I have felt about similar problems in the past.  I have the confidence to keep going down this path to building wealth.

They say when it rains, it pours; luckily it’s just a trickle right now.  Easily patched.