Between all the hub-bub surrounding Ava’s birthday and having my parents staying with us for several days, I didn’t have time to keep up-to-date on our checkbook ledger. So when I went to pay some bills last week, I just assumed we had the money to cover them all - even a large credit card bill which contained expenses from Jody’s last work-related trip and a deposit on the work done on our bathroom shower. Because I was expecting Jody to receive an expense check to cover most of that, I went ahead and paid it off in full.
When I was able to update our ledger a day or two later, I discovered we did NOT have the money to pay that and still cover other bills and living expenses. Still, I was expecting Jody to get his expense check soon and figured if he didn’t, I’d just transfer some money from savings to cover it until he got paid. So what did I do then? I mailed our mortgage. Why? I’m not quite sure. It can be received up until the 14th of the month and not be counted as late, so I easily could have held onto it for another week. I guess I felt I needed more drama in my life. ;) Ha.
We found out the expense check payment was still a few days out, and now, with the mortgage pending in addition to the credit card payment, we needed the money ASAP, so Jody attempted to transfer some money from savings. However, it wouldn’t be that simple. Back in February we moved our money from a traditional savings account to a savings account with ING Direct, giving us a much better interest rate. We soon discovered that we never set it up completely. Apparently, I never called in to verify some information which would grant us access to our money. Oops.
So I called to do the verification, figuring I’d be able to then transfer the money and all would be well. Not so. Apparently they mailed me a PIN back in February that I either promptly recycled or disregarded, because I had no idea what it was. Without the PIN there was no way I could complete the verification process, so basically we were being protected from ourselves and not granted access to our money. SH*T!
The only option was to have them mail me a new PIN which would, of course, take 5 to 7 business days - more time than we could afford - literally.
Between another small checking account I have, collecting some money my sister owed me and some cash that was in my wallet, I somehow managed to scrape together just enough to cover my big snafoo (or is it snafoos?). Barely. That didn’t leave us any extra for groceries, gas or anything else. Thankfully we had a good amount of food already in the house and our gas tank wasn’t empty (though it is now).
Jody’s expense check money was deposited into our account today so we are in the clear again! Can you hear my big sigh of relief? Also, the PIN is on it’s way to me and I will finish getting that all set up so in case we run into a situation like this again, I will be able to move our money to cover it.
Nothing like a bit of financial drama to get your blood pumping. We survived, but that was a little too close for comfort.
Stumble it!
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