Things are looking up

As expected, my financial woes would become more clear by the end of the night.

I just got a $400 quote to fix my car (and possibly improve mileage!) before hopping on the bus that would get me home in time for my strata meeting.

At the strata meeting, we agreed (though not unanimously) NOT to paint the interior of the building. Those against painting ($33,000) would rather see money go to more important things for resale than cosmetic issues like paint.

That leads me to the big ticket item -- the roof. The quote was for $200,000 (~$4,000 each) . Hutton (the building manager) had a similar sized roof done this summer and paid $150,000 so I (we) felt pretty good about the amount set aside. After some discussion we unanimously agreed to not only go through with the roof, but to use the money previously (3 years ago) collected and set aside for replacing balconies. I was pretty pleased with myself for pointing out that the ROI on that use of the money would far exceed any interest the 'balcony' money could bring in simply sitting in the bank. Yay for me.

The balcony money won't cover the full cost to replace the roof, but it was enough to bring my contribution (special levy) to ~ $1500. What a relief. I can handle that no problem though will still need to borrow from the Bank of Mom & Dad to cover it.

While at the meeting, I met the couple below me whose suite got water damage thanks to the idiot plumber who disconnected my sink prior to my renos. And after the meeting was all over, my neighbor and I split a bottle of wine and shared stories of cats, men, and weird neighbors.

Happy New Year to me

Well, my year has gotten off to a rough start. A proverbial kick in the financial pants if you will.

In the span of about 2 weeks, the following happened:

• Strata announced we needed a new roof. If we don't use contingency fund (which I don't think we should), this could amount to about $4000 each. We are meeting tonight to decide.
• Revenue Canada just figured out that they paid me $500 too much in last years' tax return. I wish I could just debit that from this year's return, but I know that is hard on the books.
• My car is acting up and there is no way I can afford a new one (or my mother's 2002 Camry). The repair bill should be in tonight.
• I had to have a tooth pulled (At ~ $350, that was more mentally than financially traumatic)

Much of my financial future will shake out tonight, so all should look clearer then. If I start posting stuff for sale, you know I had to cough up $4000 for the roof.

If you've been following along, you know that it didn't stop me from buying an mp3 player which, at $50, has been awesome given how often I've had to take the bus.

By the way, smelly people shouldn't be allowed to ride the bus.