My roommate was telling me of some of her financial problems in a serious sort of way the other night. With the bad financial market (lack of great well paying jobs with liveable wages) and her industry( which requires her to take certain classes to obtain a certificate since she is still going towards her AA and BA).... We might have a situation.
Right now I'm unsure if It will affect our current lease... I chose a responsible friend who knows how to budget, has not debt other then her car payment, and had a few grand in the bank as a nice emergency fund.
But there have been changes from when we first started living together...
- When we signed the lease, her father was covering some of her expenses when she originally moved out.... like gas for her car, and some help with things... and he's not anymore. But this didn't seem like a problem. She adjusted spending and things seemed to work out.
- Then roommate wasn't allowed to take classes for a symester due to some academic issues at the college (she tried on-line classes and didn't do so great... she now knows she needs to take in class courses) and decided against the part time morning job she was considering to help stay busy and use the down time from school in a good way. ... but she had no problem still with everyting financially.
- Now she's having trouble getting back into the school to continue now that her probabtion has ended. She needs to take courses to get raises at her job (credit= bigger raise)... but the real problem is that:
Her dad is now having her pay some of her brothers dorm/apt rent out in college till the end of his symester (He splits it 50/50 with her mom (his ex wife)... but she's been out of a job so now he's having my roommate pay 25%, his ex wife pay 25% and he's paying 50% of the place.)
She mentioned wanting to stay living with me and keeping out lease--- (and looking for a part time job so she can)... but she said something along the lines of "not wanting to leave you in the middle of our lease..." her name is on the lease itself....
That is the statement that worries the crap outta me. OUR lease is still ten months of rent payments away... and I don't know if I can find someone to replace her if she needs to boot....
But i'm working on the problem right now.. Assuming things go down the crapper....
- I mentioned last night that i'd be willing to switch bedrooms if she has someone who wants to "split" the master bedroom with her... thus reducing the amount of rent she will pay. She's not sure if she knows anyone, but she's thinking about it.
- I'm going to switch out my emergency fund to cash. (i currently have half stuck up in CD's... but i'm going to pull money from my HDP fund to put in my emergency fund, and replace that money with the CD's since I won't be buying before they naturally come to turn.
- Devise a cut back budget and start beefing up additional emergency fund reserves... It may mean a smaller christmas... less fun... and less grocergy and gas money, but could be a huge problem since I don't know of anyone to rent out the other room to.
After that, I don't know...
But I will remind her of the financial ramifications of breaking a lease... but I hope it doesn't come to that... I don't want to, but it will definently change all my plans to save for a house if she leaves me high and dry like that. With me saving over $1,000 a month, I can cover her $700 rent contribution... but that will leave me in a place I don't want to be.
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