Pent-up demand

We like so many have be struggling with the economy.

We apparently unlike many saw this coming.

We borrowed some money from family and paid off our credit cards and have been living in a cash economy for about 14 months now. We don't have any credit card debit. I actually reduced the available credit on one card to $1000 and cut up several more.

It's hard but I feel good about it. Except when I hear ads on the radio about how to settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. I wonder if that actually could happen. Or if it's just a scam to rip stupid people off for more money. It does make me feel like a bit of a chump for actually paying off the debt we accrued. Mostly we racked up debt building the studio. The car accident in 2003 meant that I couldn't build the studio with my husband so we had to hire a guy to help and that put us way over the money budgeted.

I've been thinking of the things we need this week, I guess it's part of the Season's festivities. Little things that I need, I generally get. A set of knitting needles, check. A new cheese slicer, check. The next book by a favorite author, check. But then there are other things.

I so enjoy the wood stove up in the studio. It just takes a couple of logs to heat the whole thing for almost all day. I sure would like a wood stove insert in the fireplace in the house. When we use the fireplace, it seems to make things colder. But the inserts are made much more efficient and can be closed off to not leak conditioned air. That would be really amazing to have and I bet the payback is quick as we'd not have to heat as much or run the space heater.

Like a new front door. We ran out of money when we renovated our house and figured we get ahead in a bit and buy a new front door. We haven't been able to get a bit ahead yet. The old wooden door is one of the only things left in the house that is original. It's in really bad shape and we really wish we could replace it with something new like a spiffy metal insulated door with more private windows. We need a new back door, too. Maybe while I'm dreaming, we could get both.

And speaking of windows, some window coverings to cover our wonderful double paned low E windows. And a new roof for the greenhouse. And now we need more new roof and new doors due to a really bad windstorm that tore the doors off their hinges.

But one thing that is better is I did get the dental work done that I needed to. It was a staggering amount of money that went into my mouth. But it is really wonderful to know that my mouth is in good shape. I intend to keep it that way with better flossing habits, etc. But 20 years without a dentist visit is a long time. I don't think that anything could have kept my teeth from cracking so I still would have needed all the crowns I got, but they might have been more spread out. But we paid out of savings and that is really satisfying.

We've got the available credit to get most all of our pent up demands if we wanted to. But somehow I don't want to. I suppose I just don't want to shoulder anymore debt than we already have. I day dream about windfalls and lotto tickets hitting big. But I think what I will do is go buy some more weather striping and fix the doors. I don't know what I can do about the greenhouse. My dad who is really clever with fixing things is coming to visit. I plan on seeing what he can do. And I suppose I'll think about how to sew some curtains. Not sure what to do about the fireplace. Maybe see if a chimney sweep can make some suggestions on how to make it work better. All things I can do.

And I get to enjoy seeing the $0 due on the credit card statements.

Not too bad.