I'm Losing My $100,000 Job During a Home Renovation

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. My husband and I are on baby step number five and before we kind of go into saving for our children's future, we were kind of met with a mandatory kitchen renovation that came up. It was a kitchen back from the 80s and you know we had rotting cabinets and appliances were falling apart and it was time and so we felt with our finances where they were we were able to save up. We did about a 25k budget for that with about 5k in fluctuation in case something came up but the problem with that is that we experienced a huge mold problem that we had no idea. And so my question in this goes into we have about 30 saved up for the renovation and then we have another 30 in what we call our emergency fund and my question is should we be going into our emergency fund and the in just to give a little bit more detail we were told last Friday I work for a big corporation that layoffs are coming and then our manager followed up shortly after and stated that our group was not safe and so my question is should I be right now I make about 105. What do you do? I work for MedDevice. What do you do? Sourcing for the big MedDevice company. What's your husband make? He makes about 135. So did you start your job hunt last Friday? My job hunt? No you didn't. Hey the guy told you he's getting ready to fire you. You need to listen. Okay. You need a job by next Friday making 120. What's the mold rent? And then give them the finger as you walk out the door. Corporate America is trying to piss on you. You better get ready. Okay. They're not kidding when they say your group's not safe. That's code for pack your desk. What's the mold remediation cost? Don't wait for the interest rate to be perfect before buying or refinancing a home. Talk to Churchill Mortgage. Smart buyers buy the home they can afford now and then refinance later if rates improve. Churchill helps you make decisions with confidence instead of guessing. And Churchill Mortgage has a web page with special offers just for our audience. Go to churchillmortgage.com slash Ramsey Offer. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Equal housing lenders. What's the mold remediation cost? Right now they have told us it's looking about an additional $12,000 based on the rotting that they continue to find as they move forward. So you said I have mold remediated many, many, many properties. The one thing I have found about it is it's a very emotional subject for the property owner typically. And the mold remediation companies have a spectrum of work that they can do from safe to crazy and drama. And so that industry does not have good credibility. Because in other words, I hear stuff anywhere from $30,000 to $4,000 and $4,000 absolutely will fix it in that case. And I've personally experienced that taking bids and remediating mold. But it's so it's like your children are going to die. And so that's where they start. Right. And it's a problem. And so and I've got, you know, we've got rental properties, the renter calls us up and go, my children are going No, they're not. We're going to remediate it and remediate simply means get rid of mold. That's all it means. So I want you to get three more bids on this mold issue. Because anytime someone says that they're mold has taken over the house. I always want to make sure that really happened. And is there something else we can do? And you know, what's the process we do? Basically, we need to be rid of the mold and we need to seal so that it doesn't come back and get rid of whatever water problem it was that caused the mold in the first place. Have you identified that part of it? Yes, it was a renovation that we did about five years ago that caused it where a storm came in and it just caused a major leak. And so we know where it came from. It's already been dealt with. So we just got to tear out whatever rot there is and seal it and do the proper remediation. And that might not be 12,000. It might be it might be 12,000 doesn't sound completely unreasonable. So but I'm guessing you've already torn the you got no kitchen right now, right? Nothing there. We have no kitchen, no kitchen and no job. This is great. What a great week. And so yeah, you got to put it back. You don't have a choice. Okay, so I want you to get three more bids on the mold of the money in the mold and the mold associated rot repair. Get some more bids. It's different than the kitchen guy. You may or may not use a kitchen guy after that. And then if it is 12, you've got 30 12 at you got 30 in your remodel budget, right? Correct. And you've already given them some of that, right? Yes, we've put down about 90% of our money already. On work that's not done? Well, it was to get everything kind of delivered. And yeah, don't take 90% to get it delivered. Oh, that's scary. It is scary. I hope they I hope they meet your standards. Yeah, so they have so they have 27,000 of your 30 can't breathe. Okay. Um, and right now you just got a hole in the wall, no cabinets, no nothing. Nothing. Okay. Um, no. All right. So we'll be careful how you talk to this contractor because he owns your butt. Um, so in terms of getting the other bids on the mold and stuff, but I would get some other bids just to say, I need to make sure we're safe and make sure our numbers are right. Because I think I'm losing my job. Just tell the contractor that and then get some other bids. And then you have how much in your emergency fund again, 3030. So it's 30 and 32. The two numbers are both 30. Okay. And you need 12 of that. In addition, the way it's bid out today, to be able to finish the mold remediation and put the kitchen in. And just a question leaves you $18,000. And your husband makes how much 135? Can you live on your husband's income when you get laid off if you hadn't gotten your new job yet? Yeah, I hope so. Okay, good. Have you plugged that into a budget just to see what it looks like temporarily? Yes. Okay. And it's scary. Uh, we have two kids in daycare, which is obviously not cheap. Um, our mortgage is about 2,500 a month. Um, it won't be there if you're not working. Yeah. Um, I mean, if you're sitting at home and we're living on his income, take a couple months. Yeah. So, um, all right. So here's the thing. Thing one is get more bids and finish the kitchen 12,000 or less. Okay. Leaving you 18,000 and his 135 to live on when you get laid off thing too, is go get a job right now, as fast as you possibly can making 120 and then quit and go, uh, well, my group left. That's what my group did because we saw it coming. I mean that, yeah, your group is not safe. That's some scary, but words right there. Yeah. All right. So, um, there's something about that process that makes people think it's not going to happen to me. Maybe it'll be everybody else, but me. Yeah. No, I'd be trying to get a job now while you have a job out of there and your mentality is good and make more money somewhere else as fast as you can. Well, I mean, I got to get severance. I, I, my severance is see you wouldn't want to be you. I'm done getting out of this place. Create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.