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Archive for the ‘italy’ Category

OK. Ready? Italy was unexpectedly tough on our finances.

We didn’t expect to have to pay a cover charge for each meal. We didn’t expect the exchange rate to be so poor. And we didn’t expect the high entrance fees to see the sights (and by high, I mean 50 euro – EACH).

The exchange rate surprised us the most. We made the majority of the plans in June – when the exchange rate hit its lowest. We traveled in October… the rate was nearly at its peak for the year.

I budgeted high thinking I would come home with extra money, money I could use to make a large debt payment.

That didn’t happen.

In fact, I had to stop by an ATM three times before returning home.

How bad was the damage? $500 out of our emergency fund. Eek.

Upon returning home, our water heater broke, taking out an additional $300 from the emergency fund plus another $35 for miscellaneous parts.

Add that to the $150 we had to spend on cleaning supplies and replacement curtains thanks to the stupendous house sitter.

Are you following my math?

We have $15 left in our emergency fund.

In the whole scheme of things, if this is the worst of the damage of an international vacation, it’s not bad. I just hate another month of no progress. Minimum payments this month so we can replace our emergency fund fully.

Here are the new numbers:

• Original Debt: $38,495.86
• Added Debt: $1,781.50
• Total Debt: $40,277.36
• Paid: $30,546.19
• Remaining: $9,731.17
•
• Broken Down
• Auto Loan 1: $0
• Credit Card: $0
• Student Loan: $8,781.17
• Auto Loan 2: $0
• Vet Loan: $950.00

Here’s Italy…

I’m in quite a bind and would love some advice if you are willing to give it…

We were planning to pay my husband’s brother to housesit while we were gone in Italy. He’s responsible and trustworthy and I couldn’t think of a better person to trust with my dear pups. My sister-in-law asked if her sister could housesit because she really wanted a break from her parents.

That should have tipped me off.

Did I mention she’s 19?

Anyway, we arrived home yesterday and our house had a pretty nasty scent. I assumed it was because it was closed and locked tight and that ‘scent’ was simply stale air. We noticed our back window was broken out but I hoped she had a good story as to why it was broken.

The next morning, I woke up and really saw the state our house was in through clear, non-27 hour flight, eyes.

The curtains covering our back sliding glass door were soaked in urine. The urine stains were so bad, we had to throw the curtains away. It had long since dried but the flooring was curled from what had been the area the dogs had relieved themselves in.

Near the front door, the recliner stunk of urine. Obviously the dogs had used this area regularly as well – the floor is destroyed and warping upward.

Near the entertainment unit, the wood flooring is warped and permanently destroyed from standing dog urine.

I sat on the couch and cried… then smelled the couch…….

The dogs urinated so frequently on the couch it stained the back and the seat.

Frustrated and crying, I cleaned the warped floors the best I could and emptied the trash. I opened the door to our California room off the rear of the house and was almost knocked over from the smell. Dog pee and vomit covered the floor. I opened the trash and empty beer bottles and plastic cups nearly filled it. Despite our strict requirement to have no parties, she had one (she fessed up when we called her on it).

My husband and I spent five hours cleaning our house and it still reeks of dog urine. Our dogs haven’t peed in our house since we potty trained years ago but as of now, it looks like they spent two solid weeks locked indoors peeing. We have spent nearly $100 on cleansers that mask urine smells and have to spend another $55 replacing the curtains. We have to custom order the glass for the window (she said my 15 pound dogs broke a window 4 feet off the ground – I say yeah right, sounds more like a drinking game accident) and can’t get a quote less than $100. I haven’t even looked at how much it will cost to replace the flooring near the front door, the rear door, or near the tv because I KNOW I can’t afford it. I drenched the couches in cleanser but have had no luck in making them smell better.

After all this, my brother insists I still pay her.

My mother thinks I should pay her… then send a bill for several hundred dollars in damages.

I don’t want to pay her since she left the dogs left in the house and didn’t care for them but at the same time, I don’t want to start world war III with my brother’s in-laws.

What would you do?

After 27 hours of travel, we arrived home at midnight last night/this morning. Our flight was delayed out of Rome for an hour because of some security dogs and then we sat on the tarmac for another two hours because of a mechanical problem with the plane.

The very last thing you want to hear before taking a 10 hour flight is that your plane is having mechanical problems. Nasty turbulence didn’t help either. I spent 12 hours wishing I had a written will.

The long delay before takeoff made us miss our connecting flight from Chicago and they didn’t have any seats available for what seemed like decades. When seats finally did open up, they were in the very back of the plane and we couldn’t sit together.

I understand that planes have unexpected problems and not everything will go according to plan. What I don’t understand is how badly we were treated and how rude the employees of the airline were. Rather than treat us like we CAUSED the problem, I would have at least appreciated an apology when you add 12 hours to our travel time – but I guess that was too much to ask.

I’d hate to call out the airline *cough* *cough* AMERICAN AIRLINES *cough* *cough* but really, I honestly can’t believe how badly things went.

At least we finally made it home to a broken window and a tattered house… but that’s something I’ll have to post about tomorrow. I’ve got killer jet lag and I’m going to bed.