Archives for November 2019

Will My Home Vaporize My Debt Snowball?

November 10, 2019 by tanya

Audio version of this post, read by the author.

I’m grateful that I have some equity in my condo. One day in the future, I’ll be able to reap the benefits of that. In the meantime, this home of my mine is putting a significant obstruction in my debt free plan.

Condominium Special Assessment

I’ve previously mentioned that my HOA Board is planning to issue a special assessment for the replacement of the roof on our building. Each unit owner must pay his or her proportionate share of the cost of the roof replacement, based on the size of their unit. This wouldn’t be a big deal if I lived in a highrise with plenty of units. Given that our building only contains 14 units, however, the projected cost of the roof on a per unit owner basis is several thousands of dollars.

When the initial projections for the roof were first presented, I was told that my portion to pay would be around $6,000. At our HOA meeting earlier this week, I learned that my contribution will be closer to $8,200. The HOA Board wants to ensure that we add some financial cushion to account for any construction overages or unexpected costs. As we all know, construction projects typically go over budget and the Board wants to ensure that we don’t end up in a bind to cover the entire cost when it comes due.

Each unit owner is supposed to be ready by February 15, 2020 with the first half of our portion of the payment; the other half is due 3 weeks later, during the first week of March, 2020. That gives me 3 months to come up with $8,200.

That gives me 3 months to come up with $8,200.
~ Single Girl

As someone who is following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps, I only have $1,000 in a baby emergency fund. In anticipation of the special assessment, I started putting money aside to be prepared to make the payment. I saved $1,000 last month toward that end. I also reserved some of the money I earned from my recent commission and put it into my sinking fund for home repairs. Currently, the account holds $2,058. In my budget for November, I’ve allocated $1,000 toward savings for this as well. So, as of the end of this month, I should have around $3,000 towards the $8,000 I’ll owe.

That gives me 3 months to come up with the $5,200 balance.

The HVAC Unit Strikes Again

Last weekend, I discovered that my HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system went out. Completely. The thermostat wasn’t displaying anything and the unit wouldn’t heat or cool. Given the time of year this is, my heat was the main concern. I think that because half of my walls are brick, I don’t experience significant temperature fluctuations. Plus, we have both electric and gas service in our units. The oven is operated on gas. Gas payments are covered in my monthly HOA dues (which is the same payment every month). So what did I do? To warm my place while my HVAC was out, I’d heat the oven to 450 degrees then open it up and let the heat escape. I kept the oven on for as long as I needed the heat.

In September, the problem with the HVAC was that it wasn’t cooling. I spent $419 ($169 over what I budgeted) getting a short-term fix for that issue. This time, I had no idea what the problem was. My biggest fear was that it had totally died on me and that it would need to be replaced entirely.

I got a referral from a friend for one of the maintenance guys who does work at the apartment complex in which she lives. Because I’m really watching my coins, I wanted to get as low-cost a diagnosis as I could. If the issue was a major one, I’d then be more inclined to have the work done by a larger company – one that would be bonded and insured and could provide a formal warranty for their work. But, since this was a totally unexpected (and un-budgeted for expense), I needed it to be low-cost. Usually the lower-cost folks are those who do maintenance and construction work as a side hustle to their main gig.

I was happy to learn that the problem with the unit was a blown fuse. The maintenance guy changed the fuse for me and got the unit back to work.

Total cost: $100.

Water Heater

While the maintenance guy was on top of my bathroom diagnosing the HVAC unit (remember, my HVAC sits atop my bathroom), I asked if he could take a look at my water heater. A couple of weeks ago, the hot water in my shower started acting weird. The water gets hot, but it doesn’t get hot until I’ve turned the lever almost as far as it will go. Then, the water doesn’t stay hot for very long after that. (I’m no Jennifer Anniston, with her 3 minute “protect the environment” showers. I like to take long showers. Fortunately, water is included in my monthly HOA payment.)

The maintenance guy told me that my water heater is on its last leg and explained why my water isn’t getting and remaining hot like it should. He said that, if he were me, he’d replace it immediately. “I’m a budgeter,” I said. “I’m not going to be able to replace it this month.” He thinks I may have a month or 2, at most, before it completely goes out. I’ll wait a little longer.

Total cost for diagnosis: $20 (plus, I tipped him an additional $20).

The Plan

I have adequate space on my credit cards to cover both the cost of the special assessment and the water heater replacement. Plus, the HOA Board is considering allowing owners who are suffering a hardship to borrow from the HOA reserve fund, so that they have more time to come up with the money. I’m officially 102 days credit sober; borrowing the money for this in any kind of way is not an option.

For the HOA assessment, I’m deciding whether to put my debt snowball on hold over the next three months and save the $1,700+ per month that I need to cover the $5,200. It is possible that I may close on a small real estate deal between now and then, so I may get a couple of thousand dollars through that, which I could also use toward the assessment.

I plan to have the water heater serviced by the maintenance guy who is side hustling because (1) I was happy with his professionalism and his willingness to really take the time and effort to diagnose my problem, (2) I think his prices will be cheaper than most and (3) he thinks he may be able to get me a discount on the water heater. He said that a water heater like mine (a 40 gallon) should cost between $400 and $500. For labor, he would charge me $200, including picking it up for me from Lowe’s, Home Depot or wherever. Of course, I’m going to do my research on what the water heater and the associated labor should cost before making a final decision. I’ve got to look at the numbers for next month to determine whether or not I should move forward with it in December or January.

Broke + Homeownership = No Bueno

I cannot stress enough that a broke person should not own a home. When these expenses come up, you have to find a way to pay for them. And, clearly, these expenses can be significant.

Granted, I’m delighted that I have equity in my home. But that equity isn’t money that is accessible. I don’t plan to sell my condo for a few years, so, while (hopefully) my equity continues to grow in the upcoming years, I’ll be paying bills on this place all along the way – while trying to get rid of my tsunami-sized debt.

Geez, $8,900 could do A LOT for my debt snowball. But, I recognize that life continues to happen while on a debt free journey. I also have to remember – things could be a lot worse.

Fibroids, Food and Frustration – Part 2

November 9, 2019 by tanya

Audio version of this post, read by the author.

This is a continuation of Fibroids, Food and Frustration.

The thing about fibroids is that no definitive cause of them has been determined. The Mayo Clinic states plainly, “Doctors don’t know the cause of uterine fibroids,” but certain factors appear to contribute to them. Among those factors are genetics and hormones – particularly estrogen and progesterone.

I definitely had the genetics piece covered. As I mentioned before, my mother had fibroids. My grandmother also had them. My grandmother’s fibroids were so severe that she ended up having a hysterectomy.

In the face of having a hysterectomy myself, I wanted to learn more about these alien tumors. Clearly, something was wrong in my body, which was leading to the aggressiveness of the tumors. My uterus wasn’t normal. I figured there had to be something in my biological ecosystem that was causing the fibroids to come back over and over again.

As I did more research, I discovered the work of doctors who deemed the key cause of fibroids to be the relative levels of estrogen compared to progesterone. They determined that when the presence of estrogen was too pronounced, that led to the growth of fibroids. Estrogen dominance, therefore, was the real issue.

Or, was it? Maybe there were other possibilities contributing to some kind of breakdown in my overall health. I continued to research. Did I have gut flora issues? Did I have a candida overgrowth or something? Did I have a latent allergy that had me living with acute inflammation? Was stress wreaking havoc on my body? I had to see what I could discover.

I committed to getting myself checked from top to bottom to see if there was some underlying or pervasive issue that I just didn’t see – something that was causing the fibroids to grow back.

I found a naturopathic doctor, told him about my history, and said that I really needed him to check everything. I wanted the kinds of tests that traditional doctors won’t usually order on a patient’s behalf because (1) they don’t believe that your medical theories are supported by science and (2) the tests aren’t covered by insurance policies. I took a special stool test to check my gut flora. I took hormone tests. I took blood tests. I also took a food sensitivity test. (These non-traditional tests were very expensive, by the way; the food sensitivity test, by itself, was several hundred dollars.)

I learned that my hormone levels weren’t right; my gut wasn’t right, either. These issues could be remedied with strong probiotics and some progesterone supplements.

Why I Eat the Way I Do

The worst part was the results of my food sensitivity test. I was reactive to almost everything I liked to eat – everything! There were literally 42 items on my list of reactive foods. The results of the test showed me to be mildly reactive to, among other foods, almonds, cashews, pinto beans, cherries, white potatoes, peanuts, black pepper, chocolate, yeast, turkey, vanilla, watermelon, trout, pineapple and peppermint. It showed me being highly reactive to chicken, egg, wheat, cow’s milk, garlic and ginger.

Jesus Christ.

It was ridiculous! I had already stopped eating red meat a couple of years prior, but . . . chicken? . . . . chicken?! Nooooooooooooooooo! And cheese?! Oh, and wheat?! What-in-all-the-fuck?!

The doctor assured me that if I avoided these foods for about 3 months, my body would likely reset and I would then be able to resume eating these foods. Since I had told myself that I wouldn’t get a hysterectomy until I had done all that I could do to try to correct my body, I was willing to eliminate the unfriendly foods and see what the results would be. Though I had previously engaged in some extreme food experiments in the past, this was going to be more than I was thinking I could handle. This wouldn’t be my first time not consuming something I liked, but it would surely be next level deprivation for me.

Deprivation Start Date – October 1, 2016

Before embarking on a major food deprivation project, I always mentally prepare. I pick a date and wrap my mind around the fact that, beginning that day, I’ll be giving up some things that I really like and want. The date I chose for my 3-month no cheese, no wheat, no chicken, no nothing I like diet was October 1, 2016. That would give me about 3 weeks to mentally prepare and eat a slew of cheese, chicken, bread and butter.

When the 3 months were over, and I went for my doctor’s visit, I was looking forward to hearing the doctor tell me that I could get off of my program. Instead, he told me that it would be best that I continue for an additional 3 months, as 3 months really wasn’t an adequate amount of time. Though disappointed, I made the decision to continue on with my special diet. Six months passed, then a year . . . then another year. Overall, I lost weight and felt better, but the fibroids didn’t go away.

About 2 years into the special diet, I woke up one morning to find a huge lump in my lower abdomen – in the exact same place that the two other super large fibroids had been. Over that 2-year period, there were times that I could feel the fibroids – particularly on the lower left side of my abdomen, but I could bear them. I suffered through several rough periods, but they hadn’t bothered me to the point of me feeling that I needed to pull the trigger on an extreme solution.

As I layed in bed and looked toward my stomach, I saw what, to me, was the fibroid version of Mt. Everest. I couldn’t believe it. I had been working so hard to eat properly and was diligently going to the doctor to get my hormones checked and adjusted. But that morning confirmed for me that my solution wasn’t in the food. Frankly, I was fed up and pissed the fuck off. At that point, I concluded that I had tried. I had truly given a solid effort to see if there was more that I could do – naturally – to try to reduce the presence of and effects of the fibroids.

That next month, I had another procedure to help reduce the size of the fibroids. I didn’t want to do another major surgery, so I opted against a hysterectomy. Instead, I had a uterine fibroid embolization. It was much less invasive. After one of these procedures, though a woman can still get pregnant, it isn’t recommended.

Last month made 3 years on this special diet. I was supposed to have taken the food sensitivity test again after the 6 month mark. I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money again. Yet, I wasn’t quite ready to eat a slice of pizza. Or regular, non-gluten-free bread. I figured that I had come so far and done so well over these years. My weight was where I wanted it and, aside from the fibroids, I felt pretty good. So, why stop?

The Frustrating Part

A restricted diet and restricted budget don’t go well together.

While on this debt free journey, my relationship with food has become one with very little love and a whole lot of hate. Once I got serious about finances, my diet of salmon, scallops, crab and shrimp was much too expensive. It wouldn’t work. I wasn’t willing to continue to spend the money that I had been spending. The dining out was cut and the grocery budget (even though there really wasn’t a “budget” because I bought whatever I wanted from the grocery store) was slashed. Super slashed.

A restricted diet and restricted budget don’t go well together.
~ Single Girl

It’s been a challenge for me over the last few months. Seriously. And I’m still trying to figure out how to make my diet work while on this journey. There’s the financial side and the health side to consider. I’ve been incorporating other foods that I hadn’t been eating previously. The only non-red meat protein option that isn’t chicken (highly reactive food for me) or seafood (too expensive) that I’ve been consuming is turkey (mildly reactive for me). But, I’m not so sure that I should be eating as much of that as I do, either. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a staple in a common debt-free diet, but gluten- free bread is much more expensive than regular bread. Ramen noodles (which I actually like) could be a cheap snack or meal, but . . . they are made with wheat. So, that’s not an option for me.

What’s even more frustrating is that the benefits that I got from having such a restricted diet aren’t as apparent as they once were. My body is not responding to the diet like it did before. My weight has gone up gradually over the last few months. I’ve got to figure out what to do to get it back down to where I like it – again, without blowing my budget. It’s one thing to be broke. I really don’t want to be broke and fat (yes, I said it).

I’m also at the point where I’m wondering if I even need to continue on the diet at all. It’s been 3 years now, which is way longer than the 6 months the doctor said I needed to give my body time to reset. I could probably easily get some answers by just taking the food sensitivity test again. But, I don’t want to spend several hundreds of dollars on it right now. Instead, I’ve started to read a book called The Plan: Eliminate the Surprising “Healthy” Foods That Are Making You Fat — and Lose Weight Fast. In the book, author Lyn-Genet Recitas outlines a way to test your reactivity to food on your own. I intend to take the time and steps to do my own testing to see if I can get a grip on what I should be eating to feel as good as possible and keep my weight in check as well. We’ll see what happens.

Fibroids, Food and Frustration – Part 1

November 6, 2019 by tanya

Audio version of this post, read by the author.

I promised in a previous post (see Thou Shalt Cook – A Debt-Free Commandment) that I’d provide more details on the nature of my diet and why I eat the way I do. Let me start by giving some background.

Attack of the Demon Fibroids

When I was about 29 years old, I was told that I had abnormal growths on my internal lady parts. With her finger in my vagina, my gynecologist asked me rather casually, “Anyone ever told you that you have fibroids?”

Ahhhh . . . nooooo.

Uterine fibroids are smooth muscle tumors – usually benign, non-cancerous – that grow in a woman’s uterus. They can grow in the lining of the uterus or be attached to the uterus by way of a stalk or stem. They can be small, like a pebble, or grow to the size of a grapefruit. Depending on their size and location, they can change the size, shape and position of the uterus. In extreme cases – medically described as a “giant” fibroid – a fibroid can be the size of a pumpkin and weigh over 25 pounds.

According to Our Bodies, Ourselves 2011, “about 30 percent of women get fibroids by age 35 and almost 80 percent of women will have fibroids by age 50.” Though most women will eventually have them, they are often non-problematic. To the extent that the fibroids don’t impact one’s menstruation, romantic life or quality of life, they’re pretty much a non-issue. For others, fibroids can cause heavy bleeding, pain during intercourse, and infertility.

I first heard about fibroids when I was 10 years old. I remember my mother telling me that she was diagnosed, while she was pregnant with my little brother. She didn’t do anything about hers. They didn’t give her any trouble.

I opted to not do anything about mine, either. As far as I could tell, they weren’t bothering me. Though I had always had terrible periods, I thought that’s just how my body was. As a teenager, I’d be paralyzed by menstrual cramps (yes, actually paralyzed in my seat, unable to move) every month. I also had a very heavy flow. Again, I assumed that this was just how periods went – or, at least, my period.

In my early 30s, the fibroids became a problem. By this time, intercourse started becoming noticeably more uncomfortable. Sometimes, it was flat out painful. Eventually, I could actually feel the tumors in my lower abdomen. On my left side, just above my bikini line, when I touched my stomach, I could feel a hard bump – a little hill in my belly. When looking at a profile of my body in the mirror, I could also see where my lower stomach protruded. It seemed that I had one particularly out of control fibroid. And it continued to grow.

When I was 32, the fibroids started affecting my bladder. I was waking up often during the night because my bladder simply couldn’t hold much. The fibroids had gotten so big that they were pressing on my bladder, decreasing the amount of space I had in there to contain my urine. At this point, these damned things were not only affecting my sex life, but also just my general quality of life. I couldn’t get a restful night’s sleep and I was spending too much time going to the bathroom. By this time, according to my doctor’s assessment of my ultrasounds results, my biggest fibroid was the size of a grapefruit. I’m not a big woman. I’m only 5 feet tall. At the time, I probably weighed 127 pounds. So a fruit-sized protrusion from my abdomen is noticeable.

In 2010, I opted to have an operation – a myomectomy. It is a major surgery in which the fibroids are cut out of the uterus, while keeping the uterus as intact as possible. A great thing about the surgery is that it removes the growths; a bad thing about the surgery is that it impacts the integrity of your uterus. Once a woman has a myomectomy, in the majority of instances, her gynecologist will warn her that she should not plan on delivering a baby vaginally after the procedure. The concern is that, with the uterus having been compromised through the surgery (and being cut in a number of places), the risk of her uterus rupturing during labor is greater than if the uterus had never been cut.

WARNING: MEDICALLY GRAPHIC IMAGES FOLLOW IN THIS POST

Generally, a woman at my age (32 at the time) who wants to have children should have a myomectomy with the aim of getting pregnant shortly after healing from the procedure. Though I had a boyfriend at the time, he was just a boyfriend – not a husband – so I had no pregnancy plans in mind.

What mattered most to me was my quality of life. I was tired of not being able to sleep through the night. I was tired of the extraordinary bleeding. From a vanity perspective, I was irritated that I had a pooch tummy, even though I was in good shape.

The fibroids that were removed during my 1st surgery in 2009. The measure on the left is in centimeters. The big one is 7×9 centimeters.

These Demon Fibroids Won’t Go Away!

About 4 years after my first myomectomy, I woke up one morning and couldn’t urinate. It was physically impossible for me. I began to panic. I was used to, at some points during the month, having to press a little on my lower abdomen to ensure that my bladder was empty. Eventually, that morning, I was finally able to use the restroom, but I knew that something was amiss.

I went to see a urologist and was told that, indeed, something was impacting my bladder function. The fibroids had returned. Apparently, it’s a very common occurrence. Depending on the woman, the myomectomy can turn out to be a temporary fix, not a permanent one. I didn’t realize that when I opted for the first surgery.

My periods got progressively worse. Over time, a big fibroid, in the same location as the previous mammoth one, was protruding from my stomach, making even the wearing of a seat belt an uncomfortable proposition. I was planning life activities around my period because there was always a risk that I would be bleeding all over the place. I was in constant fear of soiling my clothing or a car seat (which happened more than once; my poor boyfriend at the time was traumatized).

I was also in an extraordinary amount of pain every month. One day, I was working and the pain was so severe, that I literally crawled on the floor in the office to get to the bathroom. Pain medications weren’t working; the blood was excessive, and I was hating my body and my life. A male colleague of mine, who was working with me in the office at the time, was unwilling to let me drive home because I was in no condition to be coherent on the road.

This led to a second myomectomy – even though I had just had one only a handful of years earlier.

So, I have the scars of a woman who has had 2 C-sections, even though I’ve never had a baby.

Fibroids that were removed during my 2nd surgery. I grew several sizeable fibroids in the period of time between my surgeries.

Time for the Big “H”

Things were going well after my 2nd myomectomy . . . until they weren’t. Once again, the fibroids were back – noticeably back. I could see and feel them – again! My gynecologist said that, at this point, we ought to look into a hysterectomy as a next step.

As I sat in his office faced with the suggestion that I, a woman in her late 30s without children, completely eliminate the possibility of ever carrying a child, I wasn’t really open to his suggestion. Before I went to his office, I expected him to encourage a hysterectomy as a next move, but I wasn’t sure that I was ready to embrace it. Obviously, we needed a non-myomectomy solution because I had already had 2 of those surgeries for the same issue in a period of less than 5 years. It would be ridiculous to think that I could just keep having surgeries periodically to remedy the issue. So, here I was again, with a uterus full of these fucking demon fibroids trying to figure out what step to take. “You have a uterus that loves fibroids,” my gynecologist said. Apparently, I do.

I didn’t cry when I heard him mention the “H” word. Though I, intellectually, could fathom the idea that I might eventually have to have a hysterectomy, I wasn’t willing to tear out my uterus quite yet. Before taking that step, I wanted to be sure that I had done everything I could possibly do to fix the problem. Yes, I had already taken extreme measures by having 2 major surgeries, but, was there something else I could do? Anything? In response to my doctor’s recommendation, I was thinking, “Eh, I hear you, but I’m not quite ready to do that.”

[To be continued . . .]

The Tsunami Situation – October 2019 Debt Report

November 2, 2019 by tanya

Each month, I record the balances on my debt obligations. The amounts shown in my debt report reflect balances as of the end of the previous month.

Audio version of this post, read by the author.

See below for the figures as of the end of October, 2019.

Based on the figures above, the difference between my September and October debt total is $5,352.76. Plus, I paid off the balances due for my 2018 Federal ($3,238) and State ($2,819) taxes.

Those two debts did not did not make it into my debt snowball because I learned what my obligations were in September and paid them both in October using a commission I earned through my real estate sales side hustle.

How long should you try? Until.
~Jim Rohn

I’m very excited about having made significant strides last month. It feels so good to make large payments on individual debts. It feels even better to pay off a debt altogether and see a zero balance. I have 10 more debts to go. Note that I’ve listed the debts in the order of the lowest balance to the highest. However, I plan to pay off my home mortgages last. I’ll target Navient before going hard on either the first or second mortgage, despite the fact that the second mortgage balance is much lower than both of the student loan balances.

Though I know that every month won’t be as productive as this one was, it is encouraging to know that it can happen and that it did happen for me. For it to have happened at the front end of this journey really adds fuel to my debt-free fire. I’ll just keep plugging away.