Falling Behind.

One of my hopes for 2014 was to write daily in my blog, even if it's just a small snippet of daily life here in our little house in the big woods. I started quite nicely, creating a total of 7 blog posts in 6 short days. And then life happened!

My parents bought a beautiful time share back in 1993, which they used all the time and even gifted us several trips that we were so grateful to receive. When you have a house full of small children and a frugal budget, the opportunity to get away is heavenly! But in time, she stopped traveling and we found our own peace of heaven to visit, so it wasn't getting used as much. Then the company had some issues, ended up in court and had to sell, so all the terms changed and the fees went up drastically, beyond my mom's retirement budget. She tried to see her unit but it wouldn't sell as all the owners were trying to get out at the same time. Then the owners offered a buy out with a huge fee attached. My mom fussed for months without telling us her  dilemma, which was keep paying the ridiculous fees or accept the buyout. She talked with her lawyer and then made the decision, even though it meant her meager savings would be down to nil. Finally, in a moment of desperation, she contacted me, as she needed both my brother and I to sign off on the forms to accept the buyout as well. I went to her house on Friday afternoon, with a bouquet of flowers and some fruity danishes for our tea. We went over the forms and immediately I knew something was out of place. I called the company and discovered that the amount my mom thought she had to pay was actually not what she needed to send to end this mess. I confirmed the correct amount with the rep, then called back again, talked to a second individual who confirmed the details that the first shared with us. Got off the phone, showed my mom the correct figure and she burst in to tears. Such a worry she's carried and now she can sign off this burden without draining her entire savings account. We now have an agreement in place that any financial decisions that cause her to worry she needs to contact me so that I can make sure she's not being taken advantage of. The scary part of all this is if she had not confided in me and just sent the funds, they would have kept the amount instead of letting her know it was too much. Crooks! But now all is well and tomorrow, the documents go in the mail. Done. Fini! Yeah!!

Now we can get back to life again and stop worrying. One less thing for her to pay for each year and I'm hoping she'll consider taking the amount she was setting aside for this payment and put it in to her savings each month. Build it back up and take a trip when she's ready to again.