Thursday, August 23, 2007

Bad news always comes in threes

First, my wife is laid off from her second part time job. Second, my car breaks down on the way to work. And finally third, our cat poops on the floor.

This morning.

Here is how we dealt and are dealing with these problems. First we list them by urgency, come up with a plan, then execute said plan.

  • Priority 1: Cat poop on our floor. Above losing a job and the car breaking down, the most urgent situation is that there is now a pile of poo on our carpet. This problem is two-fold. One is that the poop is there, which has now been cleaned up. The second is the smell is there, which may attract the cat back and send guests into a coma. What we need is a good disinfecting cleanser and let it soak in. When cats poop, they pee, which means we have pee soaked into the under-padding. Will do this evening.

  • Priority 2: The car. I believe this is going to be a relatively easy fix, but unfortunately it had to be towed back to the house and put to sleep in the garage for the day. My estimated cost for parts will be $100. At least that is my projected maximum costs. If it is greater, I may have to delay the repairs. I will go into phase one of the repairs this evening. Projected labor: 1 hour plus travel time to the auto parts store.

  • Priority 3: A job loss. This one can't be remedied quickly, but we are already looking in the paper for a replacement - even if it is a temporary one. This could go either way, it may be resolved fairly quickly or may take a bit of time.

  • Other Additional Costs: Flowers for wife. Nice ones. First she lost her job (albeit her second part time one) and second, she called AAA - with whom she has membership - and added me to the club so I could get a tow. It actually was cheaper than me just calling a tow truck, especially since I called 3 and couldn't find anyone to come out to get me. She took care of it by phone while I was sitting on the side of the road playing "Snake" on my cellphone.

  • Other Short-Term Consequences: Will probably hear "I told you so" several times after being reminded how many times I said "We don't need to add me to your AAA, it's not worth the money!"

  • Other Consequences: Possible residual cat pee smell and seeing wife's face when I tell her about said cat incident.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cat situation is relatively minor as long as you can get it out of the carpet. You probably need a deep cleaner to try to soak up what is left from the spot. If you have a PetSmart, there's a product called Nature's Miracle Stain & Odor Remover that will prevent a future problem. I have been in this situation with one of our cats and this stuff makes it like nothing even happened.

Cars breaking down are never a fun thing to deal with. Usually it's one stupid little part that costs a ton of labor to even get to in order to fix it. My car is going to need two tires here soon which I'm trying to hang in there. The last thing I need is a flat or blowout.

Job loss is something I have never had to deal with yet. Maybe go to one of those temp places that can find short term jobs while she is working on finding something else. Craigslist also has some stuff out there.

Trouble always comes 3 at a time. I'm sure you'll pull through it though.

Beyond the Consumer said...

Keeping my fingers crossed about the car. Fortunately I don't charge myself labor!

Craigslist is a great source of jobs for the field she is in. She's already sent out a few resumes.

Anonymous said...

If you charged yourself labor, that could be some extra income. :)

Beyond the Consumer said...

Yeah but I'd have to take it out of my emergency fund to pay myself...and then I'd have to pay income tax on it!