Hey Reader!
Debt has such a negative connotation, but sometimes it's necessary.
Case and point, this not so stunning deck. And no. That epic tilt to the right is not your eyes playing tricks on you!
Yup, this is my actual deck. (Or was, my husband and I tore it down recently! Scary just how easily rotted wood comes apart!)
Obviously, this didn't happen overnight. It's been years in the making. Years of poor upkeep on our part, honestly. (And partly that it was just terribly built in the first place!) It's been a project that has been on our list for years now but we never really had $20k just sitting around that we wanted to dump into it. (I'd much rather put that money into my retirement account! #financenerd)
That all changed earlier this spring when my husband walked out onto it and it sunk just a bit more! That's when we decided it was time. It had gotten well past the point of being safe so it was time to get it replaced.
Do we now have $20k sitting around ready for this project? Nope. But we have more than we did a few years ago. And now it's to the point that safety is more important than having the full amount of cash needed. In this case debt is the better option.
But the good thing is that we have options. We have some cash specifically earmarked for this project and some that can be moved from places that are not as high of a priority for us right now. And there will be a plan to pay off the debt as quickly as possible. But either way, we are (somewhat!) willingly taking on this debt. Yes, in an ideal world, there would just be a giant pot a cash to pull from. But sometime, that just isn't the case and safety is more important than a few interest payments.
