This month, I have a lot of expenses. My flat didn’t sell as I expected, so I’m paying over $400 a month in condo fees and taxes. This has been going on since March, and I hoped it would end by September. On top of that, September is tax time in France, and I owe about $1,000 based on last year’s income. I paid smaller amounts in May and February.
When the sale of my flat was still promising, I wasn’t worried about the taxes. I figured I’d settle the tax bill with the money from the sale. Now, I need to get creative to find the funds since I’ve been traveling for the past year and a half and haven’t built up much of an emergency fund.
My French bank account has $150, plus the $140 I made yesterday from selling my bicycles, bringing my total to $290. After filling up my motorcycle with gas, it’s more like $250. Fortunately, I’m staying with my mom right now, so I don’t have to worry about rent, utilities, or food. Still, I’m short $1,100 for the month!
How did I end up in this tight spot? I don’t like having unused money sitting in my account. So back in July, when I had around $5,000 earning no interest, I decided to overpay a 7% loan to get that return on my money. I was counting on the sale of my flat in September to cover everything. When the sale fell through, I realized how short on cash I actually was.
I’m not overly worried since I have some cash in the UK set aside for emergencies related to my other rental property. Worst case, I can convert that Sterling into Euros, even if it means paying the exchange rate. Another option is to borrow from my mom and pay her back next month when one of my CDs matures.
I expect my income to be pretty low for the next few months, so I’ll avoid reinvesting that CD immediately and keep some cash handy for basic expenses. Lesson learned!