Recovering from a Setback- Homeowner’s Strife

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Anyone who has read the news lately knows that the world is incredibly unstable right now. Anything that adds even more stress during a downturn is a bad thing. Well, you guessed it, as tensions are mounting worldwide, I found a major water leak in my walls. It was stressful, and I needed to recover, so here was my process to thrive as the markets are declining and my own personal struggle added stress to my Friday.

I like to be prepared for emergencies. I like to save money for emergencies, pay off debt, plant food crops and store emergency devices for anything that could happen. Preparations make me relaxed, and they have proven time and time again to be necessary. I like to think of money and assets as alleviating issues and providing me time- time is the only thing we cannot buy, and to extent this is true for our health if we have pushed it past the brink. Peace of mind is something you can purchase, and being prepared is an investment in your life and mental health.

Just like that, an emergency repair needed to be made on my house. Our budget was already strained by inflation, and then we found a major water leak behind our closet wall. This was stressful, as it was the morning and I was a bit unprepared. We called a contractor to help and our home insurance provider. This was quite a bit of coordination between agents, restoration contractors and plumbers. In short, it was crazy.

I knew I needed to react to get my emergency fund back online. It took years to build, I was glad to have it and it will take time to rebuild. It did its job and kept me from debt. In order to rebuild the account, I wrote a plan. What gets written gets done, and I needed to stabilize my sanity and codify my intentions. Every paycheck, I will add into the emergency account and begin to do some more side jobs and sell more collectibles on eBay. Cutting back on expenses is important, as an emergency fund is absolutely essential and not having an emergency fund is an emergency in and of itself.

The bad news on our corporate channels is largely a downer- bad news of economic calamity, conspiracies and crime, so I turned it off. No more negative news gives me a fresh outlook on life. The television and internet are pumping toxic information into people’s homes, and I am tired of it. As part of my written plan, I am turning off media and any negative internet channels and videos that could derail my current mindstate. My mindstate is currently determined and realistic rather than optimistic. I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic about problems, rather I jump to solve the root causes of the issues and trauma and focus on the future after the issue is solved.

An emergency at my house necessitated that I respond, and respond I did. You need resources as a homeowner and you need the ability to react. Quick action stopped further damage to my house, and this was the reason my emergency fund was adequate. Ignoring issues and trying to resolve them in a half-measured way only leads to more damage.

Another aspect of responding to a crisis is cooling down and recharging. After dealing with contractors, insurance agents and finding a place to stay we needed to relax and recharge. I like to exercise regularly and work in the garden. This allows me to keep my physical response to emergencies more regular and to respond to issues with a cooler head. Being constantly on edge and in poor health will not help you when the problems of life arise, so keep your head up and make sure you are eating well, exercising and keeping up on your health in general.

For me, the destination to normalcy was difficult. I am glad that I was able to overcome my obstacle and make headways. Life is not free from challenges, and the fact that I was able to go 5-years as a homeowner without incident is amazing to me.

Wishing you all a restful weekend and a productive Friday. Always have contingency plans, save for emergencies and anticipate issues so that you can respond. If you don’t plan for emergencies, especially as a homeowner they will make a mess of your life.