I'm Really Lucky

Even though I haven't told my parents, other family, or friends about this blog (or my debt situation), I still want to give a shout out to my parents today. Without them, I think I'd be in even more trouble than I'm in.

My parents have done a lot for me over the years. Of course, they provided for me during my childhood, but they also went above and beyond. For the most part, my brother and I got most everything we wanted (within reason, of course). I won't say we were totally spoiled rotten, but we were very fortunate.

My parents also paid my college tuition for my first 2 years of school. Because of this, I graduated with only about $8,000 in student loans from my 3rd/final year of college. (I graduated from a 4 year program in 3 years.) It was up to me to provide for my books and living expenses. But, my parents were there to act as my emergency fund during college.

After college, my parents allowed me to live at home, rent-free, while I was still searching for and finalizing my house purchase. They also "gifted" me my closing costs and my beginning escrow fund deposit. They have never asked for this to be paid back. You might also notice I don't have to pay a car payment, this is also due to generosity of my parents. They bought me a nice used car, paid in full, right before my college graduation. I am still driving it now, though the itch to get an upgraded but still used "crossover" type car is really getting me these days ;)

The loan on my side bar labelled "parents" is a loan from them to me to cover lots of home-improvement items, appliances, etc when I first moved into my house in late 2012. While they aren't charging me interest, I do want to focus on getting them paid back and not leaving them for last. They deserve that and more!

I am also lucky to live in the same town as my parents. It has saved me a ton of money having my handy dad around to help with household projects and repairs. He also takes me out to lunch about once every week or two. In return, we eat at my house for lunch the rest of time. This works out pretty well for both of us. It helps with my budget, as I only have $20/month to use as "blow" money for eating out, drinks with friends, etc. This is basically enough for 1 evening meal out with a drink per month. Admittedly I have used a small portion of my "food/grocery" budget the last 2 months for additional eating out money. I have only used the excess left over from my grocery shopping and haven't put myself in a position where I can't afford groceries, which is good. But, I need to quit doing that as my monthly mortgage payment has gone up, effective April 1. I talked about the reasons for the increase here.

As you can see, I have really great parents and I would be in a much, much bigger mess if it weren't for them. I should also mention, this isn't their mess to clean up, it's mine and I'm doing it on my own. Even though you aren't reading this, THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO MOM AND DAD! I love you :)