or, Unconventional Milestones
So, I just took the first load of fluffy clothes out of my brand new dryer that was delivered a few hours ago. It’s a truly mundane story, but that’s why we’re here! Columbus Day weekend, my dryer pooped out on me, and when we finally got a repair guy out to look at it he said it really wasn’t worth the bill for a new motor and his labor and strongly recommended I get a new one. Sigh. So I did - rang up the local appliance place recommended by said repair guy and got the model he recommended - around $400 including installation and removal of the dead one. Took a few days to show up, now it’s in and all is well!
So, what makes this a milestone?
I don’t own my apartment, I rent. The washer and dryer were essentially gifts from my landlord about a year after I moved in. She acquired them for free and installed them under the condition that any repairs were on me, they were not to be considered part of the fixtures. Fair enough, and more than generous. They’ve saved me a lot of time and quarters. I do still use the line outside, but winter’s coming fast, and I did sublet my second bedroom with the in-house laundry listed as a benefit, so I really did need to get it taken care of. Milestone part is coming I swear. During this same two week period, my car stopped running too. My regular shop couldn’t diagnose it and I had to have it towed to a dealer half an hour away to get a few sensors replaced at dealer service rates. Ended up being $500 all told.
The milestone is that I was able to take care of both of these major expenses without borrowing from my parents or scrimping for months or going into debt. I did put them both on my credit card, but it was to get the reward points and I’ll be paying them off within a few days to avoid any interest charges. As recently as last year having two things like this come down at once would have messed up my finances for months. As it is, my up-in-the-air holiday travel plans are now solidified in the “staying home” category, and I had to take a month off from some aggressive debt pay-down I’ve been doing, but I’m not in a bigger hole now than I was at the start of the month. And all this with my boyfriend out of work and living with me. That last actually helped, as he was able to take care of a bunch of research and phone calls and waiting for tow trucks for me so I didn’t have to take time off work. That’s important too, beyond the money, having to get things like this taken care of would have been so much scarier and more frustrating a few years ago. Now I have a helpmeet in my corner, paid-up AAA and enough know-how to deal with grown-up things like car repair and appliance purchases.
I’m 28, and maybe this is actually an example of how I’m a bit slow in the “becoming financially responsible” timeline, but it’s making me feel pretty good nonetheless.
So, tell me about mundane life events you’ve had recently that exemplify where you are!
