My credit score is superb. My credit card balances are zero. My income is sufficient and my retirement and investments are being funded well.
However, I’ve got some big changes coming. I’m expecting to go from renting an affordable 1-bedroom apartment to buying a large house with lots of space to fill.
Assuming the house purchase is completed successfully (we don’t anticipate closing for 90 days), there will be a number of updates needed. We need to replace the roof, update the electrical, renovate the kitchen and two bathrooms, and furnish 7 rooms plus a basement (which also needs to be renovated).
The thing is, I want to pay for all of this without touching my credit cards and without draining my savings of emergency cash. I’ve got to figure out which accounts and which funds I can tap in the short-term to pay for these things, while not leaving myself so cash-strapped that we become completely, miserably house poor.
I’ve had debt, credit cards, and student loans before and I don’t look forward to incurring any new interest charges. The house payment is enough – maybe too much – and I’ll look for ways to pay a little extra on that as well.
