Financial Setbacks Big and Small

In these tough financial times, many, maybe most, people are facing financial setbacks of one kind or another. We've all read about how thousands have lost everything to scams and schemes. Many thousands of others have lost work as their employers cut back or shut down. It's hard.

In that context, it is somewhat petty of me to blog my disappointment regarding my own recent setback, but I'm going to anyway.

Brittan and I have been planning to finish our basement. It's a project that will allow us to expand our living space, spend more time with our dogs and increase the value and sales appeal of our house (once the housing mess ends). We have it all planned out. But the financing for the job fell through when I learned that I am not going to be receiving a bonus I have been counting on. Small potatoes in the great economic meltdown, but painful to me none the less. And it has a ripple effect. My own income is hit (and it was a fairly nice bonus), the govt. gets less taxes, the contractor loses a job and income (more taxes lost to Uncle govt.), Home Depot, misses out on a nice series of material and appliance purchases, and so on.

Cause and effect. That's the name of the game. So, I'm bummed. To be sure, I could use a Home Equity Line of Credit to do the work, but that violates the very foundations of Recession Proof Living and IOU NO MORE. We were tempted. But because B and I make these decisions together, 2 are stronger (and wiser) than one, and we have decided to postpone the improvements. Well, we're still going to put the bathroom in and do some of the prep work. All is not lost. Merely setback. In the end, we still win.