Welcome to Frugal Friday!
Sometimes it takes a lot of failures to reach success.
Like many of you, I’m concerned with the economy right now as company layoffs, federal layoffs, tighter financial conditions, deportations, high inflation, high rent, high home prices, high mortgages, high grocery prices, etc.
If we do not already have them in order we need to get our financial houses in order to weather this storm!
Sometimes pulling back is necessary.
Here’s how to prepare:
1. Pay off high credit card debt
2. Build up your savings and emergency funds
3. Be frugal
4. Do well at your job as high performers have a better chance at weathering the storm
5. Help each other! Lend a hand when you can.
I'm here to help you stay informed with frugal ideas to help you save money.
Speaking of all of this, my brother and sister both want this home to be sold, the one Bailey and I live in, and the profit split three ways. My sister wants it sold yesterday as she is afraid that housing prices will plummet. But, if we sell during higher housing prices then that means Bailey & I will have to buy during higher housing prices. ::sigh::
I look at houses for sale regularly and see what huge down payments are required, but still see ourselves being here for a couple more years at least. I've told both siblings that the downstairs has to be cleaned out of the tools and machinery before the house can be sold.
That will be a HUGE job, one that Bailey and I cannot do by ourselves. Her and I have already cleaned out all the garbage and my siblings are going to have to help with what is left before the house can be sold.
In the interim, we are working on getting our income up, saving and adding to our house fund, so we will have an even bigger down payment, and decluttering our own stuff upstairs. It is definitely a work in progress.
On Saturday evening the shower diverter in our combo bathtub/shower, decided to malfunction. We called on YouTube to the rescue rather than call a plumber.
We went went to Home Depot to get a replacement part, but despite all our strength, could not get the valve to loosen and come off to do the repair.
So, we needed a shower valve socket wrench. My Dad probably has one around here somewhere, but I would have no idea as to where it was as he has thousands of tools all over the place.
We ran to Home Depot again for this wrench, and came home and tried again to fix it, but even with the wrench we could not make the valve budge, so I called a plumber. I told him I needed some man strength. LOL Even he struggled to get it loose, but he did and was able to fix it and only charged me $77.50.
On Wednesday I returned those items to Home Depot that we did not use.
Free magazines this week.
Belinda, I'm glad you are doing so well with your exercises. I need to do better but I'm a procastinator.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the homes that are for sale in the Washington D.C. area. There are two houses on our block still for sale ..they have been up for 6 months. The thing is people are trying to sell them for the price they were a year ago. That won't work. They both need renovations too. Man we are a mess that's for sure.
Thank you, Vickie. Regaining my mobility is very important to me after being sedentary due to my knees for the last few years, so I work on it daily.
DeleteA mess explains it very well. Some houses I look at are in such poor shape, but not the asking price. Ugh.
The house situation sounds really complicated. I assume the house was part of a shared inheritance/estate from your dad? I agree that getting it ready to sell needs to be a shared effort, and/or you get some sort of credit at closing for all of the extra work you're doing, unless that's already been factored in as part of your "rent" while you're living there, or whatever. Sending you lots of good luck as you navigate this. (Hawaii Planner)
ReplyDeleteYes, the house is a shared inheritance. Both parents died without a will, so we have sold my Dad's property after a lot of work and red tape. We are still waiting on the closing though. I'm positive my siblings will consider my work as rent to live here. I know them both very well. LOL
DeleteThank you so much for the good luck wishes. :)
I hope your siblings treat you fairly. You were the caretaker to both parents, plus, the work to clear their spaces. It can't fall on you both to have and be given an unrealistic timeline. What's their hurry? You and Bailey staying there surely can't be impacting their lives unless they just see the money. You're right about nows the time to save, be careful with money, and help each other.
ReplyDeleteI think they will treat me fairly as they also want to be treated fairly. And I agree with you on an unrealistic timeline. It has to be Bailey and mine decisions as to when we go and honestly, I'm very concerned about that with Trump in office right now. I just don't know what to expect and it's frightening.
DeleteYou said it in a nutshell! My brother and sister both have big, beautiful homes and plenty of income, my sister's husband also has a very good income as well. They are not hurting for money as the old saying goes. It has no impact on their lives whatsoever other than they want their inheritance out of it.
My sister promised our Mom on her deathbed that she would not throw us out of the house. Not that she could we've since learned, and my sister did try to get Mom to sell the house years before Mom passed away, so this is not new with her.
Thank you for your frugal tips, and I know that you and your blog is a blessing to many of us. I think we will all need to be more frugal than we have ever been in our lives.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you were able to get your shower fixed. Great freebies and savings this week too. Hope that you will get a nice check from the sale. Great job on the exercises and health front too.
I am so sorry about the stress with your brother and sister; that is so hard.
With Bailey's experience in reselling, can she list some of your Dad's tools on ebay? Some old tools sell for a lot among collectors. My husband has sold some old hand planes and tools of my Dad's. He even sold my Dad's 70's lawnmower to a collector.
With your knowledge and skills, I am sure you will be ok.
Sending hugs.
Thank you, Kathy, and you're welcome. You are so sweet!
DeleteWe did get so many freebies this week, even I was surprised.
Bailey can definitely sell some of Dad's tools, but my brother and sister want their fair share of anything we sell.
There is some big machinery done there Dad used to make custom knives and we are even talking about contacting the manufacturers of those machines to see if they would be interested in them as a historical piece in their lobbies.
Like I said, a lot of work needs doing and maybe even an auction to sell off some things. So, we definitely need more time to make all of this happen.
Sounds stressful, I'm so sorry.
DeleteI hope that manufacturers or museum folks would help with the machinery. Great idea!
Glad that you are asking for time and help. And if Bailey does list any tools on ebay etc, I think that I read that the price to consignment sell is 50/50 since she would be doing all the work. ;)
Sending hugs.
Thank you, Kathy. That does help!
DeleteI don't think they can force me to sell unless they took me to court and I know neither one of them wants to spend the money to do that. I learned that when my brother didn't want to sell Dad's property. My sister and I didn't think we could win and the additional cost of litigation made it not worth it to us, which my brother agreed.
ReplyDeleteThere is 15 acres of land here and I don't want to own that much land and Bailey and I cannot do the upkeep here, so buying them out is not an option at this time.
Yes, I think our work should be considered in the payout of the house as we have done a lot to maintain it over the years. Bailey agrees with me of course.
Shared property inheritance is always tricky, hope you can come to a reasonable agreement. I do think you are right in saying that they must come do the work to get it ready to sell. These are very scary times. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Bailey and I try to do as much as we can, but tools and especially machinery is not in my wheelhouse. 😂
DeleteMyself and I’m assuming other readers will be confused, is it not your house that you live in? How can your siblings force you to move out of your house? Also, are you sure that Bailey will continue to live with you, or you with Bailey or would she consider leaving the nest soon given her age?
ReplyDeleteThe house we live in was my Mom and Dads home, and Dad gave it to Mom in the divorce. They both died without a will, so I worked through tons of red tape to get it all put in mine and my siblings names. Nothing can be sold without the agreement of all three of us. Yes, it can cause issues, but that’s just the way it is going to be for the time.
DeleteBailey is free to come and go as she pleases. We are looking into housing for multiple families so we can both have our own space. We saw one the other day with three houses, one for her, one for me, and one for her business or to rent out for income. Nothing is set in stone.
I would consider an estate sale to come through for the tools and such. They take care of everything. I can understand the siblings wanting to simply to close off the matter of inheritance so I can’t blame them in that sense. What was your plan / what were you hoping would happen after your father died with respect to housing?
ReplyDeleteYour third sentence is confusing.
ReplyDeleteI have no problems splitting our inheritance three ways, all I’m asking for is time. My Dad and I did not live together, so I wasn’t concerned about housing.
Mom and Dad divorced in 2014 and split their 40 acres and Mom kept the acreage with the house. Bailey and I lived with her helping her along the way.
This place was my Dad’s dream, and not mine or my Mom’s dream. I am fine with moving as there are issues here that I don’t want such as stairs, huge upkeep and lawn maintenance, driveway maintenance, etc. But, this cannot be sold immediately because my Dad has a lot of machinery and tools here that have to have something done with them. No one will buy the house with these items. Part of our inheritance is included in selling all of that, which will take time.
That is all I am asking for is time. Time to do it right and be fair to all three of us.
Great tips.
ReplyDeleteI understand wanting to settle the estate - but you have had lost going on with issues of surgeries and such - so they really need to slow down and be considerate of you. YOU were the one there all this time for the folks, so they should just let things work as they may.
Great deals and finds this week. I sure wish we still had a Save-a-lot,
Yes, Cheryl, yes! Thank you! My sister was wanting to discuss these issues the day after my first knee surgery and Bailey was fit to be tied because I was recuperating.
DeleteI like the Save a Lot in East Ridge, but the one here isn’t my favorite
It does take time to get an estate settled and you are doing very well without their help. Really selling high and having to purchase something else right away is not the best way to get a good price.
ReplyDeleteYou are having a very frugal week.
God bless.
Thank you, Jackie. I agree about selling high and buying right away isn’t the way to get a good price.
DeleteTake care!!! Your heart in the the right place. It will work out!
ReplyDeleteThank you! 💕
DeleteSorry you had to call the plumber. It does seem like his pricing was reasonable. Settling an estate can be hard, especially for you, as it seems it will have the biggest impact on you and Baily.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Wendi.
DeleteBelinda I hope things work out smoothly and peacefully. Don't over do it while you are healing. Maybe you can delay the impending sale by requesting their help ; ) Take care Sky
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sky.
DeleteHello. I so enjoy reading your emails.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about the bottled water. Do you need to drink bottled water? Is the water from your tap not drinkable? If it's from a well, some communities provide free water testing. I second the kind words about your email that earlier commenters have posted. Anyway, best regards, Arlene
Thank you, Arlene. The bottled water we have this week was a freebie from last week. We normally drink and filter our own tap water. I hope you are doing well.mits so great to hear from you.
DeleteAbsolutely, your siblings should be paying you and Bailey for the hard work you have done. I hope you two find a sweet home. Would you consider a condo type unit, where the maintenance can be done for you? I hope your steaks are delicious. Looks like a good week!
ReplyDeleteMy sister suggested that type of home for us too, so we will definitely look into that as well.
DeleteThat is a scary place to be in especially with family. But they have to be willing to help with clean up. I can understand your fear.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim.
DeleteI was worried that we were entering retirement at the wrong time because of the stock market and what the orange doofis might do to tank it. But then I realized how lucky we are not to have to worry about employment and the job market.
ReplyDeleteSelling a house is a lot of work, and you are right that there is more time an effort than others are aware of. And it is so unpleasant! I hope you reach a good compromise.
I did try Fetch but it wasn't worth the effort because I don't purchase a lot of name brands. But I am addicted to Flashfood!
Thank you, Mrs. Murphy. I love that you are able to get in on the Flashfood deals. Maybe the area we move to will have good deals using them. I would love that!
DeleteThat's a big upheaval and must feel very unsettling - and would do even if the political situation was more settled and stable.
ReplyDeleteDecluttering is always difficult and yours sound particularly difficult. Keep firm and don't be steamrollered into any hasty decisions - not that I think you would . . . xx
Thank you, Joy. Yes, the political situation makes it feel more unsettling.
Delete