TheBanyanTree: The First Step

[Margaret R. Kramer]

It’s always the first step that’s the hardest.  Especially when it’s a
complicated process with lots of twists and turns and ins and outs.  Where
is the path going to lead me if I take this step?

I’m going to be 50 next year.  They say women run their lives in decades and
tend to make major changes at the beginning of a decade.  So like these
phantom women, I want to make major changes in my life, too.  These are the
goals I want to  accomplish in my 50s:  Pay off debt, move to a smaller
house, and get a happier, but low paying job.  In other words, I want to
downsize and simplify.

Money is everything.  I’ve been very poor and I’ve been comfortable.  I
prefer being comfortable, but if I want to make major changes in my income
level and still stay comfortable, I have to pay off my debt.  I have charge
cards coming out of my ears and it’s time to clean this up.

I want to move to a smaller house.  The house we live in isn’t a mansion,
but it’s really too big for two people.  All we do with it is fill it up
with junk.  We began the process of selling the house late last spring, but
we were too rushed, and the best time to sell passed us by, and we decided
to put everything on hold until next spring.  Plus, we wanted to pay off our
debt to get us in a better position for preferred financing.  That was
taking a step back.

So now we’re refinancing, using the equity to pay off debt, and then using
the extra money we’re not paying to credit cards to stash in the bank.  The
is the first step.  It’s a difficult first step, because our current
homeowner’s policy doesn’t want to underwrite a larger loan amount, so I
have to change carriers and that includes my auto insurance, too.  It’s a
bump in the road and it has delayed our refinancing for a month while we get
all this straightened out.

If all goes well and I can get my new homeowner’s insurance binder taken
care of on Monday, then the closing will happen and our debt will POOF! go
away.  Our house payment will be just a tad higher than it is now and money
will begin to flow into our savings account.

The next step is the dreaded garage sale, which I’ve been avoiding like the
plague.  We got a good start when we were decluttering our house last June,
but we have lots more stuff to sell.  I’ve been lazy about getting to it.
It’s more fun to read or go to the beach or lounge around then it is to dig
through closets and bins and try to decide what to keep, what to put in the
sale, and what to throw away.  And because I’m not doing anything, I’m not
an inspiration for Ray to do much either.  But we need to get going on this
before the summer weather fades into fall and no one wants to go to a garage
sale wearing a parka.

My goal is by the end of March to have the house decluttered, the minor
repairs made, cleaned up and ready for sale.  We need to make a minimum of
six mortgage payments on our new mortgage before we can get another
mortgage.  In March, we’ll be able to get an approval letter from the lender
stating what I qualify for in terms of a loan and use that in buying our new
little cute house.  We’ll have no debt and no car payments and we have an
excellent payment score already, so we’ll be in a great position to get a
good loan with a painless down payment required for our new home.

Then I’ll call our agent and we’ll get our home listed.  Then wait for it to
sell.  And look for our new home.

Jobs must be picking up.  I had five calls from recruiters within the last
couple weeks based on an old resume on monster.com.  I’ve put my hat in the
ring for two of the jobs, but haven’t heard back yet.  Both of them are in
my salary range.  I have a job lead from another company, lower pay, but a
happier environment.  I have to write a cover letter this weekend and send
off my resume.

But I still worry about the economy.  One of the major insurance companies
in our area will be laying off 3, 000 people soon.  I read that another
company is going to lay off 250 people.  Teachers have been cut.  State jobs
have been cut because of budget constraints.  My own company has laid off
several people just last month.  My head isn’t on the chopping block, but
now I’m in competition with those who did have their heads chopped off.  The
laid off people from my company network together, but boy, I have a hard
time when I see a job I want and not to share that lead with others.  But it
’s all about ME, isn’t it?

So I’m hoping that once I take the step of signing my name on the dotted
line for a refinanced mortgage that will be the first step on a path with an
immediate short term destination and a murkier long term destination.  Where
will we end up living?  What kind of job will I have?  And will I find
happiness in my 50s?

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
Be a star!

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family.
~Buddha