by Ashley
Logged into my email today to see this little guy smiling back at me:
Sure doesn’t get old to see these “loan payoff” emails! I’m now officially down to 7 Navient loans (out of what 12). To be fair, I’d paid off this loan prior to last month’s debt update, but it took until the next billing cycle (now) for them to acknowledge that the loan was, indeed, paid in full.
Anywho…..pretty exciting stuff! Still lots of big loans ahead, but it’s a nice little pat on the back, indeed!
Lots (and lots!) going on in life right now! We’ve been house-hunting twice (no offers yet). We have lots of work/social functions (Last weekend was an “early faculty” happy hour. Tonight is a departmental social function). Next week we’re going back to Texas as a family. Originally hubs was going to go on his own (to spread his grandfather’s ashes with his mom), but it’s Labor Day and the kids have 2 days off of school anyway so we decided to just all go back together. I’m going to be doing various dad-related duties while in town, including: 1. going to social security office with him so I can get official permission to talk to them since they don’t recognize power of attorney, 2. meeting with a financial advisor to better invest my dad’s money, 3. meeting with a realtor to sell the Texas house.
I’m a teeny bit bitter that a chunk of my trip is going to be monopolized with dad-related stuff when I have two siblings who live in the same city that are perfectly capable of doing the things I’ll be doing. But such is life. There are ebbs and flows. Sometimes my sister picks up more of the “dad slack” and sometimes it falls on me. It’s already a huge relief for his Utah property to be sold and, although we’d originally talked about renting the Texas house, no one has stepped up to take control and my #1 stipulation is that I don’t want to deal with it. Since the duties have fallen to me anyway, I’m going to handle it how I want….which is to get rid of the property so I don’t have to deal with it. We have other (more personal) reasons why we want to get rid of the property instead of renting it, too. Mainly that, due to my dad’s disease, he has a tendency to f*ck stuff up and I just have a gut feeling that if we were to try to keep and rent the property, he’d find a way to mess it up. Might just show up at the front door (illegally) and demand something of the tenants. Or might cause an altercation with the property management company. Who knows? To limit liabilities (and make my life easier), the place just has to go.
So that’s what I’ll be doing the Friday before Labor Day (the only business day that I’ll be in town). Hoping I can get that drama out of the way and enjoy the rest of the long weekend doing low-key and cheap or free activities with the family.
Do you usually travel for Labor Day? We typically don’t, but it’s just worked out that way this time.
What’s the last debt you paid off in full? Every new Navient loan that I pay off feels like a major triumph. Sooooo over that company! I swear! Once our house situation is squared away I plan to refinance my student loans through another company so I can get a reduced interest rate (and just not have to deal with Navient anymore).
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
Casey is gone for a month+ long training, and he’s supposed to come home on that Friday. I’m looking forward to doing nothing much snuggling all weekend long!
Oh wow it never lets up does it?! I commend you for going too and dealing with your Dad’s property. Funny how the person who wanted to rent out the house (your brother I think) isn’t dealing with it.
I hope you can schedule a cleaning service when you have time.
I hope you find an affordable house soon.
And I think you probably need to let your second job go after this year, or (if the rest settles down) perhaps you can hold on one more year and share it with a replacement that you would work with and train.
Girl, I’m feeling your pain. My dad died in December and my mom just bought a new house. I’ve been at my mom’s for the past 3 holidays, was up there last Saturday and will go up again over Labor Day weekend (it’s a 1.5 hour drive one-way). My brother lives 7-ish hrs away and has been there twice and will be there again in a few weeks (so I will be there then, too, which means 3 out of 4 weekends). My sister, who lives 30 minutes from my mom hadn’t been there to help until this past Saturday – but had no trouble dumping her kids (ages 13 & 11) off on my mom all summer. And I’m not so sure that she showed up on Saturday just because I’ve made comments to my aunt, and even asked my mom if she had been over to help.
If your siblings aren’t stepping up, then it’s time to make those executive decisions that make life easiest for you. If they complain, then you can go at them with both barrels. I know your sister has the lion’s share of your dad’s care, and well, you know how men tend to be when it comes to these kind of things… (I watched my mom’s family fight over her/their sisters’ things and then their dad’s things; I always thought that my siblings & I wouldn’t fight like that, but now I’m not so sure… It’s awful that in the darkest time when you need each other most, it seems like everyone’s worst comes out.)
Hope you are able to have a good weekend in spite of all of the business you have to do. Maybe you will feel better getting some of these things checked off your list so they’re not hanging over your head. Hang in there!
That sucks. We are going through this with my grandmother. My eldest uncle thinks that because he’s the eldest and male he should naturally be in charge. Except he’s AWFUL at it and it makes everything five times harder than it should be.
Sell the house.