We were so excited about life going into this week. I was hitting my 20 week marker, I was planning our Disneyland trip, and we were just over all excited to have a good week. (Disclaimer: all is well and everyone is healthy...don't get too worried.)
So, tuesday comes. 20 weeks YAY! But I wake up with a horrible sore throat and congestion. My first thought. Satan is stealing my joy and I'm not letting him. We are still going out to celebrate because I'm half way. YAY.
(what my life looks like right now)
(what my life looks like right now)
We have a normal day. Jonathan gets paid so I have to pay the bills and balance the check book. So, I drop G at my mom's so I can have some peace and quiet while I work. The first bill I open is our mortgage statement. Whoa! Why is that number so much larger than normal? I open a second envelope from our mortgage company and oh, there has been an error. Usually every year we get a refund check from our mortgage company saying we've paid too much into escrow. This year we get a letter saying we have a huge deficit. We now owe a large portion of money. That's never happened before. So, Jonathan calls the tax office (where the error is stemming from) and our mortgage company. When we bought our house it had a 65+ exemption on it so the taxes were lower. We knew our payment would go up. That time came, our payment went DOWN, and we got a refund check. We called the mortgage company, had them look it over, and they assured us everything was fine. Fast forward to Tuesday and everything as it turns out was not fine. Both the tax office and the mortgage company confirm that it was in fact a mortgage company error. Who ever was in charge of our account failed to note the tax error for 15 months. So, now we owe 15 months of back taxes. Meaning, our mortgage payment goes up by over 50% (OVER FIFTY PERCENT!!!) or we owe a nice chunk of change all at once. So, that nice chunk of change was what we were using to plan our Disneyland trip and in the name of being responsible adults we have had to cancel our trip. All through no fault of our own. So, that's life for you I guess. Stealing my joy was successful. (And, I get that people don't have vacation money. That's not what the real issue is for me. The issue for me is that Jonathan and I work very hard. We are very diligent with our money. Very careful. Then, someone comes along and screws up our finances and there is not even a clear way on how to report that problem or hold the company accountable. Some families could lose their homes over an error like this. Luckily we are not one of those families but on over fifty percent increase of your monthly payment is a lot if you don't have the cash to pay off the difference. (Praise GOD we can afford the monthly increase or the all at once payment although neither is fun or easy to swallow...especially when it's not OUR error) Although the trip does make me angry. Because of Jonathan's job/work schedule we don't have a lot of opportunities to travel. He's a principal so he can't just take off of work for fun whenever he likes and he doesn't travel for work. And, no, he does not get the entire summer off. He get's 4-6 weeks off in the summer and that's when we take our big family vacation and I'm due this summer so I can't really travel. Today I'm just in the (wrong) mindset of "Why me". Last year around this time we were paying massive amounts of medical bills due to a miscarriage (thank you Lord we've over come that struggle) and now this. Blah x 1000. How do you like that for keeping it real :/
Other than that let's see what else we did this week.
Registered G for Kinder
(my heart is literally breaking)
(my heart is literally breaking)
Celebrated 20 weeks
(With ice cream. Yes please!)
(With ice cream. Yes please!)
Finished Kinder homeschool
(ANNNND...it's April. And yes, she will be going into public kinder. For a whole slew of reasons I am typically not pro skipping a grade. Plus she is YOUNG for her grade anyhow.)
Georgia performed in Jonathan's dance team's spring show. She did SO well.
Art history fanatic
(We delved into some art history documentaries that lead her to an interest in my art history books)
(ANNNND...it's April. And yes, she will be going into public kinder. For a whole slew of reasons I am typically not pro skipping a grade. Plus she is YOUNG for her grade anyhow.)
(We delved into some art history documentaries that lead her to an interest in my art history books)
Most of this blog was a rant. If you feel so led please pray our mortgage situation can be worked out and even more importantly pray that for my heart, attitude, and spirit. I'm a grump and I know it.
2 comments:
I had a grumpy week as well, I'm planning to spend the weekend re-grouping and starting next week with a happier heart and better attitude. Praying that you are able to find a solution to your mortgage problem and that your heart & spirit feel a little lighter sooner rather than later. <3
We had something very similar happen in our two previous mortgages. It was actually really scary in our first house when money was already so tight. In our current (third) house, we opted to handle the taxes and insurance ourselves rather than dealing with the wackos in the escrow department. It really hurts to write those big checks periodically, but at least it's something we can plan for and control. Plus, I hate the idea that the mortgage company gets to keep the escrow money interest-free until it's due. So we're paying you to screw up our lives? NOPE. With interest rates so low, you might consider refinancing into a no-escrow loan, if you have at least 20% equity in your house. Holding the money for the payments in an interest bearing account gives a nice little bonus. It won't make a huge difference, but it'll maybe pay for a date night each month.
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