When I was a kid, I loved getting something in the mail with my name on it! As I grew older, the mail lost it's thrill and it has now become something I seem to despise. I guess the main reason for my change in feelings is obvious ... a kid doesn't have bills!
Even though it's rare that I get anything exciting in the mail, I still always rush to the mailbox as soon as I get home. I guess I'm hoping for some miracle ... you know, a letter stating that a long-lost relative left me millions in their will! Every day I'm disappointed to find credit card offers, bills or some type of notification that usually informs me that somebody didn't do their job properly (or at all) and I now have another phone call to make in order to correct their error.
Last week we received our property tax bill for this past year, indicating that is has gone up over $600! The same week I also received our car insurance renewal, which is about $3600 a year ... with older vehicles, no tickets and no accidents! I've heard that Louisiana has one of the highest insurance rates ... I believe it! Oh, and we also received a nice little note from our medical insurance company stating that since we've been such great customers the past year ... our premium is going up over $100 per month! To add salt to the wound, just yesterday I received our homeowner's insurance renewal. You guessed it ... our premium is increasing almost $1100 a year! That's over 40%!
Add all of these increases up, and you can see why I about have a heart attack every time I open the mail! Just our house note alone will go up almost $300 a month to replace the escrow shortage and provide enough for the next year.
Anyway, that's what is on my mind today! After opening that piece of mail last night, Ken and I were in a terrible mood and found ourselves snapping at each other. We realized we needed to take a deep breath, and do our best to relax for the evening.
Ken and I have both been busy with our regular jobs the past couple of weekends, so we've only squeezed in a little bit of hurricane damage repairs to our house. We've been trying to take things one day at a time without killing ourselves. However, the mail man isn't helping ... we've gotta get this house fixed and sold!
On a brighter note, while picking up materials Saturday morning for our house we took a break and checked out a "Wounded Warriors" benefit that we came across at the last minute. It was a great (and short) break, and it was nice to honor those that have given their lives or their limbs for our country.
My dad is a retired New Orleans Fire Chief, so I have great respect for firefighters!
We didn't know about this benefit, and were lucky to come across it at the perfect time to catch these two sky divers land. They were just a speck in the sky, but once they got close they came down fast!
We were only around for about 20 minutes, but were also lucky enough to hear the band play ...
and watch a Black Hawk helicopter do a fly-over.
There were lots of cool cars ...
Okay, I've vented and I'm gonna keep hoping for that long-lost relative! At least I know I've got a couple of cruising books coming in the mail soon. I'm gonna leave ya'll with Betty Boop!
Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!
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4 comments:
Everything is going up as we have to pay the cost of government services and they spend like drunken sailors. It's a crying shame. Everything is going up except for wages...well that's if you can find a job in the first place.
Hang in there my friend. :)
I'm with you on the mail. Mike always gets it because I just hate to see what's there. On the bright side for you, though, you are selling a house that is increasing in value it appears. It's a mixed blessing when your property value goes down by almost 80,000$ like ours did last year. Sure, our house bill will be lower, but that doesn't bode well for the value of houses in general in our area. I think I'd rather pay a little more and see my home be worth something to someone besides me, especially since we want to go live on a boat for awhile! Hang in there.
Sandee, our thoughts exactly!
LCP ... actually our house value hasn't really risen ... just our taxes! A lot of people in our area are outraged (including us) but our voices won't make a difference it seems.
Bummer! No good news. I also get excited everytime I check the mail..waiting for one to hold a check of some kind, LOL.
I hope you get your house sold soon as they are huge drains on bank accounts. It's like you can have a great house, or a boat, but unless you are really well off, not both.
Goodluck we are rooting for you!
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