4 months < 24 hours

No, that's not a mistake. My Catholic school nun teachers would not be horrified, that's actually a true statement. We have spent more money in the last 24 hours than we did in the four-plus months we were dually unemployed. And while a fair amount of this money is a good thing, the other fair amount is, well, unbelievably painful. (Warning likely long post...sorry)

Last night we bought a new car! I love it, its Honda CR-V, 2009. It had 17 miles on it. Its not a fancy model, but its a safe model and my son is such a happy monkey in it. It has room galore for us. In my mind I had wanted to pay x a month, and we were able to get 60 months for x+$28. Since it's the most popular car in its class, the chances of the price going much lower are slim. We were able to get the car below sticker price though and the salesperson literally threw in a feature we wanted from one of the nicer models for free -- we had to meet in a mall parking lot though, so she could hand it off out of sight.

The difference in how we were treated from this dealership as opposed to the others is night and day. At no point were we pressured, and the nice saleslady even told us NOT to get the extended (read: expensive) warranty because we really don't need it. Ask me again in a year, but as of right now I would recommend this dealership in a heartbeat.

This afternoon though we got the bad news. The cost to fix our shower, which is desperately needed since when my husband took a shower Thursday morning there was still standing water in the shower when we went to bed, is more than (...wait for it, sit down...) $2500!

Why didn't I get into the plumbing business? Seriously, these guys make money hand over fist for nothing. The first plumber that came out here charged us more than $200 and all he did was tell us something was in the drain (really Sherlock!)

He determined he needed to go through the drywall of our neighbor's apartment to remove the item, but then he would not repair the drywall. We are not Mr & Mrs Villa here, so we certainly can't fix the hole. When he told us this, not sure if it was the lack of coffee or what, but I lost it. I had to excuse myself because I was sobbing in front of a plumber and my neighbor.

I called a different plumber off of a recommended list from one of my list-servs and while I don't like the price, I do like that they are doing everything (from removing the item to patching up my neighbor's drywall) all at once. His original quote was higher, but I was able to get $300 off because my husband will paint the bathroom instead of having the plumber do it.

If our shower issue had developed when we were both unemployed I am not sure how stable I would have been. As it stands our savings, which took a hit while we were both out of work, are now really hurting. We were able to arrange a payment plan which helps, and I know this is something we had to do because the shower could not continue in its condition. But still $2500+!!!! My husband is going to call the insurance company to see if anything in our homeowners policy will cover this. I'll let you know.

Hope you have a great weekend. As for me, I am off to enjoy some nice cheap Trader Joe's wine, while sitting on the couch as my husband watches Yankees-Red Sox.