linklings, score one for renting edition

Scribbled by Steve on November 28, 2009 - Comments

If you read more than one blog, I’m sure you’ve already read several “Happy Thanksgiving” posts, but I’ll add one more – hope everyone enjoyed a couple of days of wassail and sodality (and yes, I know I’m not using that word in exactly the correct way, but it was a new one for me and I decided to give it a whirl).

sink

As we’ve closed on our home purchase and start moving out of our rental I’ve been reminded of one of the benefits of renting. Following Murphy’s Law almost to a T, our kitchen sink backed up severely on Thursday.  Drano and Liquid Plumber helped slightly, allowing a trickle to drain through, but for all intents and purposes the sink was useless.  We decided not to interrupt our landlord’s Thanksgiving, being the selfless tenants we are (ha), and waited until Friday.

On Friday, our landlady gave us the number of a plumber who made emergency calls. He came out promptly and discovered that there were some problems far, far down the line.  In other words, Drano wouldn’t have made a bit of difference – it was a problem that had grown long before we rented the house.  Lots of heavy equipment was hauled up on the roof and an hour later the sink was flowing like new.

Our bill for all of this?  Nothing, other than the tip I gave the guy because he had given me three calls before arriving to keep me posted on exactly how long it would take him to get there.  If the same problem happened in a house I owned, I’d be spending plenty.  As a renter, nothing.  So, score one for renting.  Renting certainly has its share of drawbacks but in this case, renting wins.

A few links, gathered around holiday themes – I suppose from now until Christmas plenty of blogs, including mine, will be focused on the orgy of consumerism and how “you don’t need things to be happy” etc. etc.  Lots of frugality tips and affiliate links, no doubt.  My holiday spending tip?  Decide what you can afford, stick to it and don’t worry about it further than that. And pay cash (or, if you are the type who can control your credit cards, pay off your balance immediately).

And how was your Black Friday? I’ve never “done” Black Friday, and never plan to do it.  What a horrible mess.  Why people would subject themselves to that kind of abuse for the sake of good but not unbelievable savings is beyond me.  Wait one year and that will be the day-to-day price on a TV.

photo by 5533

Tags: , , ,
  • Hopefully these new feature will enhance the production quality after all and designers will have the more variant option at all.
  • Ken
    I'm a new homeowner as of July 2009. You've got me wondering if I need to add more to my emergency fund. Those care "less" renting days are gone now.
  • There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it, when it does not even benefit themselves.

    How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!

    Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764
  • funnyaboutmoney
    LOL! That surely would give me pause, if I were a brand-new homeowner.

    A friend tells me that when he buys a house he figures move-in repairs and "surprises" will amount to 3% of the purchase price in the first year. At least when you're a landlord, you can write repairs off your taxes.
blog comments powered by Disqus