Digging Out of Dirt and Debt

Posted by Madison on August 6, 2008

Digging

Digging In Our Front Lawn

As you can see from the picture above, digging up the water pipes at our house continues to be the main event this week at the DuPaix house. They found the break in the pipe under the foundation. Water was just pouring out.

The good news is that we had a wonderful builder who graded properly and kept all the water away from our basement. Various contractors commented yesterday that they couldn’t believe our house wasn’t flooded.

The bad news is that they had to rip up almost our whole front lawn, sidewalks, and landscaping. In addition, we lost the front stoop. They’ll be back today to pour new concrete.

We’re still uncertain about the cause of the break and who is at fault, if anyone. We have the pipe, and we’ll be researching what our options are. I’ll keep you posted as it unfolds. We’re also a little nervous about the size of the bill…. Always Get an Estimate Before Having Work Done.

To take my mind off the near disaster, I’m busy playing in the The PF Challenge Tournament On Facebook.

Credit and Debt

How to Get Out of Debt – Our Story
See how they paid off more than $50,000 in debt in under four years.

Paying It Off
A family looks for advice on which to pay first: credit card debt or an upside-down mortgage.

Hackers Steal 40 Million Credit and Debit Card Numbers – Has Your Number Been Stolen?
Wow! Watch your statement closely if you shopped at any of the nine stores listed.

Retirement

Ask the Reader: Saving for Retirement Early In Your Career
A 22 year old new graduate is looking for advice. Chime in and share your thoughts.

Don’t Give Up On Your 401k
Ideas to supplement a decline in your 401k plan.

Canadian RRSP Vs. U.S. 401(k) Retirement Account Comparison
A great breakdown to find out how retirement planning works across the border.

Your Money

iPhone Finance (Mostly) Apps, Vol. 1
Check out new personal finance applications that you can download to your iPhone.

Lost Money: How Money Drains Add Up To $175,000 In 10 Years
Looks like my lunches out add up to $35,857 over 10 years.

Did You Splurge?
Survey results to find out if people splurged in June and why they did so.

Planning

A Month-Long Menu Plan
Since we won’t have our nanny cooking for us in a few weeks, I need to figure out what to feed our family and when.

5 Ways To Calm Your Thinking And Deal With Adversity
My favorite tip is to have a plan B. I’m a big fan of planning, and back-up planning.

25 Sharp Cuts of Time Saving Wisdom
Stop over analyzing things! I’m guilty!

Getting ready for a different rhythm to my life
I have a partner in crime. Although we took two different paths, Father Sez and I will be able to trade tips about our new non-working lifestyles.

More Articles I enjoyed this week:





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Comments to Digging Out of Dirt and Debt

  1. Great resource. Thanks for including us.

    Marc and Angel Hack Life


  2. If the house is less than 10 years old in California, you may be able to get the builder to pay for this. There is no way this is normal on an almost new house. The builder should mitigate corrosives in placemnet of such a pipe, or perhaps there is settlement due to improper grading. This is the stuff of building defect lawsuits. Maybe you should speak to an attorney.

    Lost Cause


  3. Nice backhoe! Thanks for the great site and the link!

    MITBeta @ Don’t Feed The Alligators


  4. Thanks a lot for the mention – good luck with the construction.

    Mike

    Four Pillars


  5. What happened here? I went on vacation and lost the story. Did it all work out?

    FMF


  6. @ Lost Cause: I’m in Wisconsin, but we’re hoping that the plumber might come through for us.

    @ FMF: Here’s a quick update Ask Madison: Reader Mail. Nothing exciting yet.

    Madison


  7. Credit card debt settlement definitly seems to be seen as a realistic option for people dealing with unsecured debt. I have been watching the debt settlement pretty closely and it is hard to understand what is actually being purchased for your money. I know there are a large group of debt settlement companies out there that serve up superb service and the clients really get great benefit, but I am also aware there are tons of debt consolidation companies in the market that are only focused on collecting new customer fees and enrolling new customers. This is why there obviosly is all this new fed regulation regarding the debt settlement industry. My best friend used a debt settlement service provider and is honestly very super happy with the result.

    Dallas Westlake



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