Into the doldrums

Summer is here and the time is right for cabin fever.

No more holidays til Labor day.  No more guests coming.  No more being able to go outside very much due to the heat.

Sigh.

Our 10th anniversary is this coming week, though, and we took Friday off so we can go out for a real date on Thursday to mark the occasion.

Friday will then just be a nice chance to do errands and yard work at our leisure.

There's a high-end steak house in one of the more upscale districts in town that Dave wants to try.

Speaking of money, we closed on our home equity loan yesterday.  The funds should be in the bank by Thursday, so we can pay off all of our credit cards.

The cards themselves have been locked up in our safe.

With the state of the world being what it is, and with my job situation being somewhat tenuous, getting our debts managed and our cash flow improved was a necessary move.

We got into credit card debt in a few ways.  Dave has issues with spending and not caring about the consequences.   He ran one of his cards way up.  That card has been locked in the safe.

We also paid for big vet bills for Louie and Jack with a credit card because we had no other means to pay. Even though they were both several years ago, with the interest rate on credit being what it is, we are still paying that down.

Hospital bills went on credit after Dave's adventures in 2009 and 2011.

Some of our vacation expenses and weekends away have gone on credit (though, for the most part, we have used tax refund money for those).

All of the frivolous use of credit has stopped, and now we have to crawl out from under the pile.

Previous attempts to consolidate over into a "lower interest" credit account have failed, because the interest goes up after a period of time.

The nice thing about this loan is that the designated monthly payment is less than we were paying on the consolidation account, and there is no penalty if we pay MORE than the designated amount, or if we pay the loan off early.

We can sock away quite a bit of money every month (compared to not socking any away lately), and then, every once in a while, make a triple payment on the balance.

This will also allow us to save for a trip to Wales and England, to make that dream come true.

I am very grateful that my dad taught me how to manage money.  I think I know a lot more about it than some people,  and I am also grateful that Dave let me put my foot down.

It only took 10 years, HAH!!

In other news, when Dave decides to get up, his first task for the day is to spray down our patio furniture to get all of the dust off of it.

Then, I am going to attempt a painting project.  We can put the furniture under the car port so I can be out of the sun.

It's an idea I got from a furniture painting video I saw on Facebook.  Click link below to see....


https://www.facebook.com/MarkMontanoNYC/videos/1656899904364137/


The patio furniture is metal, and I just repainted it all black before my sister and brother in law came to visit.  Then, I saw this video, and wanted to do the project before they came, but we didn't order the paint in time. It just came the other day.

The colorful sparkly paint was expensive, so I really hope this works!  I will take pictures and post them next week!