Monday, February 4, 2008
random bullets of snow and condo
* I paid some fellow a bunch of cash to shovel out my driveway. I felt good about supporting the local economy. I also was thrilled not to have to do it myself. I have a very short attention span when it comes to manual labor. Remember, if you will, that it took years for me to finish painting my condo (and by "finish" I mean that my friend Mary came over and finished it). I can claim that I have a hard time gripping anything, which makes painting and shoveling hurt like hell and my hands cramp up after a few minutes—and that would be absolutely true—but mostly I just get bored. I'm good at writing checks, though.
* Since the 12"+ inches of snow was removed from around my car, I went to the grocery store to stock up on things like kitty litter, kitty food, water, etc. In other words, all stuff that's too damn heavy for one person to carry should that person have decided to walk to the grocery store that's nearby. If I just needed, say, toilet paper and pasta, I would have walked to the store (really!). But I needed more than that.
* When I tried to get back in my driveway, I realized the lovely fellow had shoveled in right angles, which meant that I couldn't turn up into my driveway without hitting snow bank (I tried). So I parked on the street, poorly, like everyone else (there are drifts). At some point this weekend, if snow doesn't melt (it's supposed to be 40 and rain some, which will help), I'll shovel out a corner and see if I can't get up the driveway. But my car is fine where it is.
* Wasn't that exciting news?
* I took my condo off the market. There's some real news.
* Starting in March, it will be rented to a fine upstanding citizen and my realtor is also playing property manager.
* While the rent is only 40% of what I have to pay in mortgage, HOA, and taxes each month, 40% is more than 0%. I'm ok with this.
* I will rent it for at least two years. That will give the market time to stop sucking, and I'll re-evaluate selling it at that point.
* So, I now know exactly how to budget for the next two years—keep working at my job, work more if possible, can't pay anything off but won't go into bankruptcy or anything like that. It's not the optimal situation, but at least it's still on the path of Making a Life Change.
* Could be worse. Could be better, but could be worse. So there's that.
* Since the 12"+ inches of snow was removed from around my car, I went to the grocery store to stock up on things like kitty litter, kitty food, water, etc. In other words, all stuff that's too damn heavy for one person to carry should that person have decided to walk to the grocery store that's nearby. If I just needed, say, toilet paper and pasta, I would have walked to the store (really!). But I needed more than that.
* When I tried to get back in my driveway, I realized the lovely fellow had shoveled in right angles, which meant that I couldn't turn up into my driveway without hitting snow bank (I tried). So I parked on the street, poorly, like everyone else (there are drifts). At some point this weekend, if snow doesn't melt (it's supposed to be 40 and rain some, which will help), I'll shovel out a corner and see if I can't get up the driveway. But my car is fine where it is.
* Wasn't that exciting news?
* I took my condo off the market. There's some real news.
* Starting in March, it will be rented to a fine upstanding citizen and my realtor is also playing property manager.
* While the rent is only 40% of what I have to pay in mortgage, HOA, and taxes each month, 40% is more than 0%. I'm ok with this.
* I will rent it for at least two years. That will give the market time to stop sucking, and I'll re-evaluate selling it at that point.
* So, I now know exactly how to budget for the next two years—keep working at my job, work more if possible, can't pay anything off but won't go into bankruptcy or anything like that. It's not the optimal situation, but at least it's still on the path of Making a Life Change.
* Could be worse. Could be better, but could be worse. So there's that.
Labels: misc life