Broke Urban Lawyer Falls into the Money Pit

There's a movie called The Money Pit (full disclosure, I haven't actually seen it, though many people have told me that I should), and the basic premise is that a couple buys a house, and things constantly break to comedic effect.

It turns out I bought that house.

Broke Urban Lawyer Buys a House

I started this post about 4 months ago and then got so busy I didn't have a chance to come back to it until now. I had been doing so well with my debt that I decided in February to go and triple it. I bought a house.

I know, it sounds a little counterintuitive to take on a mortgage when I'm staring down my student loans. I decided to do it because in the long run it will save me money, though. Rents in my city are rising at an alarming rate. In the two years I lived in my apartment, my rent doubled. I figured at some point, the rent on a one bedroom apartment would catch up to the mortgage on a multi-bedroom house, and I wanted to get out of renting before that happened. I hated flushing money down the drain every month. When I paid rent, I was fattening the wallet of my landlord. When I pay my mortgage, a portion of that goes to me. If I kept renting, in 30 years I would get to keep paying rent. By buying a house, in 30 years I'll have a house. (Though I plan to pay it off much sooner than that. This is a get out of debt blog, after all.)

Broke Urban Lawyer Pays Cash for Medical Care

I've written previously about how I don't have health insurance because it's not a good financial option for me. I do, however, get regular medical care, and my care doesn't suffer due to my lack of insurance. In some ways it's better because I don't have to wait for approval from an insurance company before getting stuff done. If my doctor and I agree on it, it happens without bureaucrats interfering.

I have some mild chronic health conditions that I manage, but other than that, I'm generally in good health. If you're someone with more expensive medical needs, your calculation might come out differently.

Here's how I handle it: