The Joys of Homeownership

January hasn’t really been my month. 

Or the slightly more dramatic; 2013 hasn’t been my year.

There’s been the partially flooded condo, the potential relationship I thought had promise but didn’t, the dog whose foster family decided they were going to keep him, the car making a funny noise, and the heat that stopped working. 

Oh, and I bought the wrong T pass.

Stupid paper T Pass, takes forever to process causing you to miss the train or hold everyone up getting on the bus. I’ve felt like a tourist all month.

At 3am on New Year’s Eve Day (technically December but go with it) I woke up to the sound of water rushing in my condo.  If there is a sound that will get you out of bed quickly in the morning, it’s the sound of rushing water.

I found a partly flooded bathroom and hallway, with more water pouring out of the toilet by the second. 

All clean water thank God.

I was able to remedy the issue (toilet wouldn’t stop running) and clean up the mess fairly quickly.

As I patted myself on the back for handling my first home emergency so well – I didn’t cry (I had enough water to deal with) or even freak out, I jumped right into action (though I’ll fully admit I had no idea what I was doing) – I opened up the door to my unit to soak up the last of the water and noticed a very wet carpet complete with puddles in the hallway. 

I stood there shaking as I called my buildings emergency maintenance line.

Given the time of day and the fact that the issue had been resolved (go me!) they wouldn’t send anyone over until later.  I was also advised that if I had a wet dry vacuum I was better off cleaning up myself as it was a holiday so rates would be double.

I left notes under my neighbors doors explaining what happened – and praying the water didn’t go into their units – and sent my dad a text to call me when he got up. 

Of course, calling my father would have typically been my first course of action – but calling that early in the morning wouldn’t have been fair since there was really nothing he could do – so I had to deal with it on my own.  

It could have been so much worse.  I’m on the bottom floor so no one is below me and I caught the mess right away.  Had I not rolled over and heard the water things could have been a lot worse. 

I was very lucky. 

Yes, the situation sucked, but I am proud of the way I handled it and the outcome was as desirable as can be.  

Fast forward a couple weeks, now my vents are blowing out cold air and its single digits outside.    The temp in my condo was 64 and falling (I typically keep it at 68) so I shut the heat off and went to bed.  (I live in a building with 20 other units so my place typically doesn’t get overly hot or cold so this was an option).

When I woke up the condo was at 61.  I turned the heat on and miraculously it worked. 

It continued to work for the next couple of days until it stopped working. 

My condo stayed between 62 and 64 so I put off calling anyone (I’m so responsible) because I was sick of paying for things breaking.  (Per my condo guidelines we’re supposed to keep the heat at 62 to avoid pipes freezing, if the temp had fallen and stayed below 62 I would have had to call someone.) 

Seriously is there a worse month for everything to go wrong?!  The holiday bills are rolling in and tax returns seem like a distant dream.

Tuesday night, after a little Google consulting, I decided to try flipping the circuit breaker as my tried and true shut the heat off and then turn it back on a couple hours later was failing me repeatedly.

That worked! 

For the past two days my condo has been at a glorious 68 degrees and I’m left hoping it stays that way.

It was an extremely simple fix but I still felt like a rock star for taking care of it myself. 

The joys of homeownership. 

The funny thing is, never once when either of these issues popped up did I regret buying the place or wish I could just call a landlord.  Both of the issues could have been a lot worse and much more expensive.  Being able to handle both situations on my own has given me more confidence in handling being a homeowner. 

I have a feeling February is going to be much better; for starters I already purchased the correct T pass!

The Charlie Card, so much more convenient, no fuss, just tap and go.

Have you ever had a month where things just didn’t go your way?  How’d you handle it?  Do you feel like a rock star when you fix or complete home projects? 

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