Unpaid rent overshadows budget breakdown

Our Cleveland property, where a tenant's unpaid rent overshadows budget breakdown for Ellen and Tedly.

Last Updated on June 8, 2023 by Ellen

We have a situation.

For the first time, we have not received the current month’s rent from the tenant living in our home back in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

We know nothing more. We have not yet contacted our management company for any explanation or further info. All we can say for sure is that as of the morning of September 4, 2020, the rental payment due on September 1 has not been posted.

Hopefully, the payment will be made a few days late. But our tenant has never been late a single time in more than three-and-a-half years. Moreover, all rent has been paid in full and on time thus far during the cornavirus crisis.

Unpaid rent

We take in $1,000 per month for rent on our modest, comfortable, 1,250 square foot, U.S. property. From that we pay property taxes, insurance, management fees, and any maintenance costs.

The remainder is our only earned ‘income’ since we began early retirement in late 2015. It’s not a huge amount of money – but certainly a substantial part of our monthly budget.

Of course, there is nothing we can do from our ‘pandemic home’ in the Philippines except wait and see what happens next. We do not know the tenant personally. We will communicate with our managers in coming days.

The unstoppable journey

Obviously, many Americans are currently struggling to pay bills due to job/financial uncertainty. Various regulations regarding rental terms, late fees, and evictions have been implemented. We will work through whatever processes are required.

We are thankful our rent receipts have not been affected until this date. We hope for a quick resolution. But whatever occurs is largely out of our hands. Life goes on. Expenses continue.

Below is our month of August 2020 spending breakdown. As always, we keep track of every penny we spend as we travel in early retirement. We know we are blessed to live the vagabond life that we do.

August 2020 accounting

$919 – personal gifts / contributions / tips
$674 – donation matches
$461 – housing
$204 – groceries
$194 – travel (& visas)
$163 – health (Ellen’s medications)
$159 – restaurant / bar
$88  – take out food / beer
$54  – supplies
————————————

$2,916 = total monthly expenditures for 2 persons

Spending notes

As you can plainly see, we are still using most of our resources to assist others during this unprecedented health and financial crisis.

We continue to support several sustainability projects with the local, disadvantaged, indigenous Ati people. The ‘donation matches’ above reflect our portion of those contributions made by friends, family, and followers of this blog. Thank you all very much.

The ‘personal gifts/contributions’ are other charitable payments we have made to people in need – separate from the Ati funds.

We did spend a little more on ‘necessities’ this past month as we decided to spend some ‘couple time’ on the nearby island of Boracay. Still, our true ‘living expenses’ totaled less than $1,200 for the month.

Mom Diane remains with us at our long-term rental apartment on the Panay, Philippines mainland. She shares the daily expenses – and much of the charitable aid.

As always, be thankful and generous, happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!

Riding out the pandemic in the Philippines-- the pandemic apartment at the hangout beach resort on panay island

Pictured above: the two-bedroom apartment rental in Malay, Philippines, where Ellen, Tedly, and mom Diane have been staying since March 2020, when the first lockdowns began in the region.

Thanks for reading, “Unpaid rent overshadows budget breakdown.”

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