Damage Control

Trying to “fix” what I can.

Why did my sister-in-law need to spill the beans and tell my Hubby (her brother) that he would feel worse the day after his surgery?  While I certainly knew this, my Hubby didn’t seem to. That was, until she clued him in.  Ugh!  It wasn’t that I was dishonest with the Hubs, he just never asked!  I figured it would be best for him to keep thinking he would be on the mend sooner, rather than later. You know, a mind over matter sort of thing.  Enter the need for some damage control.

As expected, Hubs didn’t feel all they great yesterday.  Despite this, I did my best to tell him he looked like he was feeling a lot better.  After the third comment of laying it on a little thick, he did question me as to what I was up to.  Lol  We got a few chuckles out of it, which probably wasn’t good for the Hubs as it did intensify his pain.  After an initial morning dose of his narcotic pain medicine, he did switch to a combination of Tylenol and Motrin.  At least that was a small “win” in the damage control department.  Hubs also wanted to accompany me to Bible study (albeit, wearing sweatpants) so that was yet another good thing.

I have been involved with a small Bible study with a few folks from church.  We rotate homes, which also puts it on a more personal level.  I enjoy it as we have many interesting conversations, even though at times we stray from the topic at hand.  Since these families have lived in the area for most of their lives, Hubs and I also figured they would be the ones to ask for recommendations for a roofer.  One individual came highly recommended and we will get that name and number and give him a call.

As for discussing our roofing issue with our friends, it is improbable that we will be able to do much about it until the Spring.  Our forecast tonight is calling for 5 inches of snow!  Although none of us are professional roofers, the consensus was pretty much the same in that it was a highly unusual storm with the rain being very forceful.  If it was a constant drip in the house every time it rained, I’d be far more concerned.  No doubt damage may be found that we are yet unaware of but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  This is where roof/budget damage control will come into play.

In our area, most outside type of work such as roofing doesn’t start up until May.  This gives us a little over six months to save as much cash as we can to offset the roof repair we will be facing.  While we do need to remain mindful of when the balance transfer windows end on our credit card debt, for the time being, our focus now needs to turn to the roof.  Of course, I’m not happy about it, but crying over it won’t get us anywhere.  We unavoidably lost some ground in our quest to get out of debt with now gaining a hospital bill, but I don’t want to make matters even worse by adding a repair bill.

All this being said, other than doing a little rounding up, we will remain at the minimums on our bills until the roof is taken care of.  I have no clue as to how much we will need to save.  My biggest hope is that we can save enough to cover the cost.  Should we be fortunate to save extra, that can still go to paying off our debt once the roof is repaired.  At least all but two debts (a credit card fixed at 5.99%) and our car loan (1.99%) are now at zero percent so they are no longer accruing interest.

The goal is to continue doing damage control and take it from there.  No one ever said getting out of debt would be easy and it surely isn’t!  But, I am not a quitter and the battle against debt is one that Hubs and I will win!