$7,000 on the Lowe's card at 24.99% interest - I am going to give you a minute to get back up into your chair after reading that. We had the Lowe's card paid down to around $2,500 when our deadbeat renter from last year (the one that we had BEFORE we had this deadbeat renter) pretty much left the house in shambles while allowing their yappy little dog to pee in every room while smoking a cigarette. Yes, I do believe that the dog was smoking in there too. In fact I believe that they invited over every person in town to partake of their smoking rooms (aka our rent house). You are probably asking yourself "Will this chick ever learn?" and "Why are all of their renters deadbeats?" Well I did learn enough to take out the add in the paper that read:
Two bedroom, two bath house with carport, fenced yard, storage building, all appliances, and central heat/air ...... deadbeat renters who can't keep jobs, refuse to pay rent, have chickens that they keep indoors, and drug dealer friends are encouraged to apply !
So when the deadbeat renter from last year moved out, we had to replace all of the carpet, paint all of the rooms, replace some countertops and cabinets, replace mirrors, patch holes in the walls, buy new blinds, etc. etc. Of course when I say we in this scenario, I really mean Derek because I don't do much in the way of home improvements other than stand in the middle of the living room calling the deadbeat renters everything but a lima bean. The total for everything that we had to repair or replace was nearly $5,000 and since my name isn't Annie and I wasn't adopted by some rich, bald dude then we didn't have that kind of money. So it all went on the Lowe's card, which now has a balance of $7,000 at 24.99% interest. Which means that we are paying approximately $1,750 in interest EACH YEAR !!! (get back in your chair !)
So here is the plan .... I called Lowe's credit card service and of course, they don't lower their interest rates for anybody. Blah blah blah - we cut up the card and refuse to charge anything there ever again. Which means that they will probably have to fire a few people since we are no longer supporting the company, but hey that's just too bad. We have been working pretty hard in the past few months to pay off credit cards and hope to pay off two more this month. The plan is to pay Lowe's $1,000 a month until it is paid off. It is not going to be easy, but I am bound and determined to have that card paid off by my birthday next March. Of course, that will also be around the time that the current deadbeat renter decides that they have always wanted to cook a goat in the middle of the living room and that their pet buffalo is too scared to sleep outside.
When my husband was starting his business, we managed to run up $20,000 in debt. Quickly. When we sold the house, we paid it all off. And now? We will never, ever, ever have another credit card. We cannot be trusted to use one responsibly. I've taken to quoting Laura Ingalls when Mr. Olsen asked if she wanted to charge something to a store account- "Pa always says cash on the barrel." That Pa Ingalls- wise beyond his years I tell ya.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your dead beat renter collection.
We are sorry about our dead beat renter collection too. :) It was probably thirty seconds between the phrase "we should never rent to people that we know because they tend to take advantage of us" and the phrase "Rachel (our oldest daughter) wants to find roommates and rent one our rent houses" ... I guess we will never learn.
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