Expense

[vaneramos]

There was, of course, also a parking ticket. So I ended up paying $100 for parking on my own street while out of town one night. As eniastoa guessed, the towing company claimed notices had been posted "a few days ahead", but nothing was posted Thursday morning and my car was towed on Friday. I wish I had more gumption to fight stupid situations like this, but with so many other challenges at hand my emotional resources are already running shallow.

For the first time since I can remember I just came home and paid the ticket online immediately, rather than having it hang like a bitter cloud over my head for several weeks. I will be working many extra hours this month so it won't cut into my budget, but it's a shame because I'm trying to set aside extra funds for the vacation (my first in three years) to Manitoba next month.

This is a new season in my financial affairs: planning for necessities, planning for emergencies, sticking with the plan, rolling with it, and moving on. Enough whining over spilt milk.

Now I'm off to Toronto.

Comments

paying the ticket online

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

Good for you. (and no, posting notices in the newspapers a day ahead of time doesn't cut it with me; were there any placards on the street itself?)

Re: paying the ticket online

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

No I didn't see anything posted on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday evening. I have, on one occasion, seen signs posted several days ahead of planned street maintenance that never happened, but not in this case.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Strange procedure. Around here, the street-cleanings are on a regular schedule, which is described on permanent signs along the street. Furthermore, in Cambridge, (rather too) early on the mornings of street-cleaning, a sound truck drives through the neighborhood blaring a warning of towing of cars parked on the designated side of the street.

The latter is rather annoying to those of us who have off-street parking (or no car), but I suppose it saves a few people a greater annoyance.

[danthered.livejournal.com]

The procedure's only strange if the goal is to get the streets swept. Here in Toronto (and in Guelph, as it seems) the goal is to maximise revenue to the city.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Usually Guelph, as a matter of policy, is much kinder about parking enforcement. In the downtown area they used to leave a 20-minute courtesy notice on your windshield if you were parked slighty overtime. Then they did away with parking meters entirely, and replaced them with two-hour free parking. I believe the Chamber of Commerce elected to pay fees to support these policies with a view to promoting downtown shopping. Due to this and other municipal farsightedness, downtown Guelph thrives.

So I was surprised and disappointed with this incident; it reminded me of the arbitrary exploitation to which the city of Toronto subjects car owners.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I was not home the day before or day of the cleaning, so I don't know whether any such measures were taken. If there's a lesson to be learned, it's that I should do some research for next spring and find out whether they have a schedule for street cleaning.

[eloquentwthrage.livejournal.com]

I feel if it's worth your peace of mind to pay and get it out of the way, very good. But another side of me feels they do this sort of thing, as danthered says, to generate revenue.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

As I replied to Daniel, the City of Guelph usually does not operate that way, so I was surprised and disappointed.

[lupinebear.livejournal.com]

And that ticket sucks even more. Blorf...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yes, Blorf. So much for the income from extra hours worked this week.

[pippasporch.livejournal.com]

Well, Van, I would say this was a fantastic opportunity for you to become discouraged and throw in the towel because these unforeseen (and unfair!) expenses were thrown onto your shoulders right in the middle of your budgetary goal months. You could have argued it's all useless anyway, because 'look what happens'.

Instead you (wisely, in my opinion) decided not to pour any unnecessary energy into it by fighting it or procrastinating on it, you simply paid up, and you're moving on in the right direction. You took action, man! And taking immediate action is something I'm only now learning comes easier the more attuned we become to taking responsibility for ourselves.

I'd chalk up this whole experience to a VICTORY. Congratulations, mate!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Pippa. This also happens to be a month in which I have plenty of work and extra funds on hand, so it was easier to take action. In the past there have been many, many times when it would have taken several weeks for me to figure out where the $100 was coming from. It still scares me to think of getting back into those circumstances when work slows down (as it must). I hope that by setting up an emergency fund with a plan to build upon and replenish it, I can avoid desperate situations in the future.