I spent the holidays with family this year in California to get some time with my grandson. It is such a joy to see things through the eyes of the children. One evening while there, my daughter and son-in-law got into a discussion with me about the economy and their situation. Just before the housing collapse, the kids had purchased their home and almost instantly it dropped in value by $125,000. This was coupled by some downsizing that ended up cutting my son-in-laws income by 35% and a raise-freeze by my daughter's employer. As a result, they found themselves buried just as my grandson was arriving.
I don't think this is much different from many other people around the country as well as people here in Spokane. They tried to get their home refinanced but after three months of paperwork they were found to not be eligible because they made too much income (based on the previous years tax records) and so they were stuck. For several months they have had to pull from savings to make ends meet.
How does someone turn things around from something like this? They did nothing wrong. They didn't buy a home at the time that was beyond their means by housing standards and no special arrangements were made to get them qualified. But now when they do need help because of no fault of their own they are up a creek. Fortunately the kids are secure in their relationship together but a new baby and this sort of pressure will no doubt test every bit of that marriage.
Again, how does a couple find a pony in this poop?
This was the first I had heard about their difficulties and it has been going on for over a year. But that is my daughter for you. I talk to her monthly about things that are going on in her life and how the baby is doing but although she asks for advise on things, I don't always know the purpose behind the questions. She doesn't try to keep me out of their business but she does try to work things through on their own. She feels that it is "their" responsibility to ask, analyze and, if appropriate, apply - "you have enough to think about dad and you have taught me well..."
Their solution?
Tad has taken on every opportunity to work over-time where possible. It has not made up for the 35% pay cut but it ends up close. Then, he spends every Saturday helping to share cleaning duties around the home so that Kim can take care of her contribution.
Kim who is a marketing director for a senior care facility has started selling smocks for nurses to make some extra money. Because she works with nurses and knows many others from other facilities she has done quite well without having to take away from her time with her son. She set up a simple web ordering system, spread the word through her monthly gatherings with other directors at other facilities and then weekly places the orders with the manufacturer. And everything is done during nap time on Saturdays. Then to keep things personal to encourage people to continue to buy from here, she includes a nice "thank you" card in every order with a short follow-up email to make sure everything arrived in good order. Then since she was a nurse herself for several years, she knows what they face in their work and sends tips and suggestions as well as reminders to reorder since she knows that nurses get quite busy and tend to forget.
The kids know that the market will correct itself and turn around. So in their mind the time is not to complain and wallow in their situation but to actively do something about it. Is it still tough? Maybe at times, but by taking control of their situation and doing something about it they are rising above what has been laid in their lap.
I know that most of us have found ways to adjust to our personal situation. That is what we do to get by. And to be honest, it never changes. We adjust to the good things as well as the unfortunate situations in our lives and we do the same with business. There are ponies out there in the poop.
