Friday, September 14, 2012

Everyday Victories

As has been said before, I was suffering recently from the Broken Washer Blues.  I can proudly say today, that I suffer from this affliction no more!

It may not seem like a big deal, but even the smallest changes in our day to day lives can really help to make or break our long term mood.  When you're young and you've got your own home, the natural deterioration of certain things can be so disheartening.  For me, I'm just now digging my way out of years of a flooded pit of financial burden, and climbing up to a dais of debt-free existence.  When you're trying to ascend that mountain, and you can see the peak off in the distance, any distraction can seem daunting.

Besides just the washer, at home, we've had a few other problems, which are rather insignificant in hindsight.  As one unified front, however, the issues seemed almost insurmountable.  A lawnmower breaks down, a car's engine light turns on, a leak springs in the upstairs dormer.  These are all fixable, assuming you have the money.

I would have had about $630 more, had I been paying better attention to my credit card bills over the past five years.  I signed up for a card at Best Buy a few years back, and without my knowledge, they had signed me up for a paid service that would have alleviated any debt I might have had if any of my purchases would have been stolen.  I usually don't even pay for warranties, though, so I knew I didn't sign up for this extra coverage.

After a little more investigation, I found out that this is a wide-reaching problem, that has infringed on a lot of people's lives.  You may not even have realized it happened to you.  If you signed up for a Best Buy credit card in the last few years, I implore you to look at your bill for anything that says "Debt Cancellation".  I thought it was a mandatory fee that I was being charged for paying off my debt early, but that was not the case.

When I realized what was happening, the only thing I could see were crimson hues of fury.  It's not often, these days, when I get stressed out, and it's perhaps because of that lack that I was hit so profoundly with uncontrollable rage as I learned that this bank was ripping off potentially thousands if not millions of people.  If this was me taking money from the bank, I would have been put in jail for the rest of my life.

Cooler heads prevail, however, and I somehow worked out all of the madness that was wracking my body.  It only took a few calls to have my account credited, and to get the frivolous charges cancelled.  The point is, if you have a credit card through that company, do yourself a favor and make sure you're not getting charged for something you never wanted in the first place.

Regarding the washer, however, I was able to get a service technician to come out again.  I don't know if it was because he could see how much I had tried to identify the problem myself, or if I was just a good tipper that last time, but he fixed it for free, and probably about 16 times faster than I could.

It's the victories like today's that make you feel like you can keep going on for miles.  I will always be thankful for them.

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