So today started off with a huge smack in the face. As many of you know I have been jobless for a while now and really have worked only 4 months out of the past 24 months. So needless to say I've used up all my savings and funds are extremely low at this time, in fact I had to request some money from a family member (which I hate doing). This family member was my safety net, they ensured me that no matter what I would not lose my house, they would help me out financially until I could get back on my feet. Well I got a call today from this "family member" and they informed me that they were not going to help me, for reasons I won't go into here but needless to say they didn't make any sense... at least to me. So one week away from my mortgage being due and bills being due I must now scramble and figure out how I'm going to pay for things and not lose my house. Talk about blood pressure going up and the stress mounting. I got off the phone and immediately started to have chest pains. Panic was setting in and all I could do was tell myself to calm down and to breath.
I really didn't have much time to think about what I was going to do because I was recording six new episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast with my buddies Al and Meds at noon. We were also having some "guest" co-hosts joining us. These are listeners who entered a raffle and won spots as co-hosts.
Even though I was in panic mode the recording went great, we had very few technical issues and the conversations were fun and entertaining. There will be a few editing challenges but I'm up for them.
Finished recording around 2:30pm, said my goodbyes and let the panic resume. I quickly checked to see how much I had left in the bank. There's nothing left in my savings.. a hundred or so in paypal and about a hundred in cash. I was freaking out.. for the first time in over 10 years I didn't know what I was going to do. I mean I lived pay check to pay check all through my teens, 20's and into my 30's but I've never had a house mortgage, especially a large house mortgage.
Four o'clock came around and I went outside to water my trees because my watering system is broke and I can't afford to fix it.. especially now. You know that saying.. "when it rains, it pours". Well I got out near the well for my water and noticed that one of the pipes had split open and water was spraying all over the place. I quickly turned off my well pump to stop the water from spraying out. Luckily for me I have a 500 gallon reserve tank so I should be okay for a while if needed.
There were five or six small holes in the metal pipe. I quickly jumped in my car and headed to Lowes. Remember when I go anywhere it's at least a 20 to 30 minute drive. All I'm thinking is I'm wasting gas that I soon won't be able to fill up.
Got to Lowes, found the plumbing area and looked for a solution. I found a metal pipe fix-it repair pack for $11 bucks. Looked fairly reliable so I got it. I got home and it was starting to get dark so I quickly applied the patch and would let it dry overnight and test it out tomorrow morning and see if the leak was fixed.. cross your fingers.
Also while I was dealing with my well issues I remembered that I do have emergency credit cards (2 of them with a fairly large limits). So my plan B is to charge as many bills as I can to my credit card and then get a cash advance for my mortgage. I don't want to go into debt again but this will at least give me another month (July) to find a job or come up with another plan.
The panic and stress isn't gone but it's defiantly more manageable now that I have an idea of what I'm going to do. Life is funny sometimes.. it knocks you down and just for fun it's gives you a good kick in the balls.