Wonder Why Wednesday - Homeownership

You know, I don't regret leaving the world of the renter, never at all, except when I have vastly troubling house issues.

Yesterday I got to call Roto Rooter though, which was kind of fun... I mean, c'mon it's ROTO ROOTER. Haven't you always kind of wanted to call them, just because the name is awesome? I feel the same way about the Concrete Barbers and Empire Carpets (it's a Chicago thing)... I don't necessarily want to spend the money, but I want a reason to call.

Anyway, Roto Rooter, despite the unexpected 300.00 expense, was really kind of fun... They had to pull my toilet off, so I got to learn all sorts of new things about HOW IT ALL WORKS, and then they made a shitload (no pun intended) of noise by cramming this automated drain snake with 3 INCH STEEL CLAWS ON IT into my drains. I feared yet respected it, and the cats were deeply disturbed; Tiggy was army-crawling all over the house with a WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SHIT kind of look on his face, it was pretty funny. The guy was really nice and even gave me a 20.00 discount since (and this was the good news) my pipes are "picture perfect". That's really good to know, I mean I would really have hated to hear "we need to dig up your yard".

So, lesson learned... yearly tree-root de-clogging will get done (costs about 100.00 from what I hear, but we'll see, or I can use the tree-root killer you can get at Wal-Mart... I'm not sure that's great for the environment though).

This all leads me to my Wonder Why of the week... why do you think it is that people line up for this kind of hassle? Wouldn't it be easier just to rent? I know I really loved being able to just call the maintenance folks and say "holy crap, get over here quick!"... it came with the package. Do you think it's worth it to have these unexpected things come up, if it means that you don't have neighbors above/below/beside you, making noise and generally making your life miserable while you pay for the pleasure? Or do you think it' s better to rent, even though you're basically giving your money away for a little box to keep your stuff in, if it means you don't ever have to deal with the hassles?

Personally, I vote BUY NOW, because I really truly do feel that, despite my upset-edness yesterday, 300.00 was a small price to pay for the knowledge that I don't ever have to move again if I don't want to, my monthly bill will never increase more than a few bucks for property taxes (and in fact may very well decrease), and I can call the cops on anyone I damn well please because GIT OFFA MY LAWN! I am such an old coot.

Side note... I confess, they were done by noon yesterday, but I took the afternoon off. It was lovely out, so I left the back door open and let the fresh air flow in, and I sat and pieced the top to the replacement school quilt. Glorious.