Huzzah! Hurrah! Hooray!

Spouse got a job, a gen-u-wine, paycheck-generatin', benefits-havin', full-bloody-damn-time job! With a salary nearly equal to the previous, City-based position!

Win win win for the Spouse!

It starts in a few weeks. And then joy will spread across the countryside like melted butter, dripping into every crevice, as we start to beat our debts over their filthy heads with the valorous shovels of income and frugality!

Yes, I'm giddy.

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The Dubious Joys of Ownership

Our rental property continues to physically embody the reasons why people don't make money off of rental properties. Checklist for the last two months: Tenants not renewing Downed branches (and possibly damaged tree) from windstorms need removal Possible leak in attic Probable mold in attic The management fee for finding/renting to a new tenant is much heftier, of course -- roughly equivalent to a month's rent. And of course that's in addition to costs from the usual refurbishing when putting a rental back on market: painting, deep cleaning, replacing anything that has aged out since the lease began (in our case, that includes at least a mailbox). Let's call that $1,500, though I honestly have no idea. No word yet on what the branch/possible tree removal will cost. Crossing my fingers that the tree is okay. The state requires a certified inspector to determine the presence of mold. (This costs us money but I approve of it. Mold can have a huge health impac...

Warning...

I just spent $640 on a new monitor. Not this one precisely, but you get the idea Cue PF Frugality alarms: Alert! Alert! Unplanned purchase! Funds diverted from debts still outstanding! Activate guilt shields! Criticism incoming! Yeah, I'm cowering. I know, I know. Why spend $640 that you (broadly speaking) don't have when you do have a functional, if aging, monitor and you're trying to get out of debt? Because unfortunately, "functional" isn't quite good enough. I work from home roughly once a week, and Spouse uses my monitor when on call at the new job. At work, we both have dual, (reasonably) high-res monitors, because our employers understand our workflow has us moving between applications throughout the day. To illustrate, in my usual work at the current client, I am checking/have open at a minimum: Specification documentation, usually Excel or Word An integrated development environment app, mostly for the display aspects of my work ...

Can. Not. EVEN.

Our numbers are worse. It seems like I simply don't understand the point of this enterprise, doesn't it? The debt is supposed to go down, not up. I've attempted to post figures several times over the last six weeks, but the hits just keep coming. In addition to the Great Mold Adventure of May, we've incurred the following -- We had two, possibly three, computers pass away in the last two months; I'm using my laptop in place of my desktop PC, and Spouse will be giving our media server intensive care before calling for last rites, but my elderly aunt needed a durable tablet, tout de suite , to replace her defunct device. (Elderly Aunt is on the most fixed of fixed incomes, dealing with a journal's worth of medical issues for herself and dementia-diagnosis Uncle, and has no one else with resources: our assistance to her is non-negotiable.) This expense is on an interest-free* credit card, but is nonetheless an additional expense. Spouse's phone d...

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