Tatter is offering a wonderful indigo workshop, probably a life changing event, wayyy beyond my budget but if you can get to Brooklyn in April, you may want to contact them.
They have a lot of good teaching online and in person, worth the fees, on fiber related stitching and hand construction skills. They help preserve valuable skills for all of us.
On a less elevated plane, the cost of home ownership continues to rise. I can handle it for now, but it's getting onerous.
In the last week the monthly condo Association announced that monthly fees will be higher as of April, plus a large one -time special assessment fee to catch up on expenses,including insurance and water increases. This is on top of the fireplace and another small replacement costs. Soon I will be required to replace the water heater.
My water bill for the townhouse shot up this month, maybe related to the bathroom leak, maybe the same increase noted by the condo Association. This is on top of the plumbing bill.
I've rarely had a more expensive month that didn't involve fun! And there's the personal amplifier cost, but I think that's going back, not useful for general purposes. On the good side, I can pay the raised costs, but I reserve the right to grumble anyway.
But I found a lovely artwork, always a good thing for a person's spirits
Happy day, everyone, Tuesday knitting group this afternoon, and Textiles and Tea, so there's that.
And moral support to people who need it is always available.
I feel like everybody passes on the increased costs PLUS a little bit extra because, well you know. I think everybody's extra adds up.
ReplyDeleteWell, handling fees, you know!
DeleteAnd extra expenses are so stressful when you live on a fixed income. I'm sorry this is all hitting you at once.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like a cascade!
Deletethe joys of home ownership though I suppose if you rented the rent would go up.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite true. No escaping increases.
DeleteThere is a tipping point. Rent is high, but you don't have maintenance costs. I would seriously consider moving to a smaller place if it weren't for the horses. This place is a money pit. I imagine you aren't interested in living with HS. Life takes its sharp turns.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't want to live with Handsome Son. Nor he with me, though he's too tactful to say so! Rents here are sky high, the cost of renting a condo like the one I own is about 400% times my actual maintenance costs. Likewise renting a townhouse like mine, I just checked, $3k monthly. More than my income. Oh well.
DeleteI don't charge the full rate to him, though. There are subsidies for various tasks and responsibilities. But if I tried to rent, currently $2,150, same size condo with fancy counters!
DeleteEnjoy the knitting group. Have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's the plan.
DeleteAs former homeowners and a former condo owner myself, I can well appreciate your frustration over the rise in monthly fees and the assessment. The same thing happened when I owned a condo townhouse. First, there was an assessment for repainting the buildings and then another for various overall maintenance. We are currently renting an apt and while rents have gone up, we have always been sure to take the 2-year option which at least locks us in even if temporarily. Hopefully, your increased water bill was only the result of the recent leak and will not be as great next month. It is good that you are able to weather the increased costs.
ReplyDeleteIt's usually increases, rarely the other way! Here rents have close to tripled in the last few years, largely because of the school district, highly rated, so owners can get tenants no matter what they charge, it seems to me.
DeleteThe 'good school' effect is apparent everywhere it seems. We live in a 'good school' location and house prices are rising. People don't move - they just extend, because it's cheaper than moving, and then the houses are too expensive and too big for a couple when they are eventually put on the market.
ReplyDeleteThat's how medium range housing disappears. It's a constant plaint here.
DeleteTATTER indigo workshop is sold out, amazing at nearly $900.00 for three days plus air fare plus hotel plus transportation plus food...Holy cow!
ReplyDeleteI expect locals booked fast. It's only a day since they opened registration. I often wonder how people afford it. Then next thing it's filled.
DeleteI'll never get to Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a song title
DeleteEverything is going up! Like you we can still afford stuff but honestly it’s getting very annoying. It seems to go up weekly
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of the supply chain being blamed for gouging
DeleteOnce again, I'm glad we're renters! (But of course we pay all those expenses anyway, through our rent.)
ReplyDeleteYou also have two incomes to pay one rent. And wild guess, rentals have not literally tripled where you live since2020?
DeleteSlight exaggeration there. In fact, more like doubled.
DeleteGlad you can pay them. Those fees can get out of hand quickly. Wishing you the best week ahead. Cheers, Ivy.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see you back here, and I hope you're well now. Yes, the good news is that I can pay these unexpected expenses. That's a blessing.
DeleteI hope you have a "spring break" from unexpected expenses! The Princeton area (where Dennis from) has always been expensive for housing, whether renting or owning.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. More so now with an increased population and competition for housing. But it also attracts the best doctors and plenty of them, good hospitals, so there's that. My son got the benefit of the school system, too, paying for which accounts for high housing costs
DeleteGrumbling is always permitted. May life continue to be affordable.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think grumbling has its place!
DeleteIt’s those one time assessments that seem to hit hardest in condos. I know of one where structural damage of some kind on the roof of the building was causing leaks and major repairs were needed and each owner was dinged for $10,000. But, last year, I changed the eavestroughs, had a new deck built, and it looks like the driveway will have to be done this year, so I guess there are “fees” of one kind or another whether we live in a house or a condo.
ReplyDeleteWhen we've had big assessments, of the multi thousand kind, such as in two renovations, we've been able to pay them via long-term increased monthly fees, not too hard, but anything smaller we just get billed. As you say, either way, freestanding house or condo, we pay.
DeleteI hate those expensive surprises. We may be getting one at the cottage and we're dealing with one now here at home. No fun.
ReplyDeleteI always console myself with at least I can pay it! Now, anyway.
DeleteIt sounds as though here the condo fees, at least for the most part, are just about as much as paying rent. I like the thought of a condo but can't afford the fees. At least with being in a rental, if something dies we can just pick up the phone and they have to either fix it or replace it with no additional cost to us. Of course, having said that, the fear now is that they will do their utmost to force long-standing renters out so they can then re-rent the units for a much higher price than what we're paying now. At the moment RC and I don't have to pay extra for hydro or for our parking spot, but all the new rentals are forced to pay on top of exhorbitant rents. Scary what this world is coming to.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised your condo fees are so high. Here it definitely pays to own a condo over renting. The total costs are a small fraction of the rent for a similar unit. Pretty scary times. Is hydro electricity?
DeleteSorry, yes - hydro/electricity are the same thing here in Canada.
Delete