When most of us think about expiration dates milk and other grocery items come to mind. We all know that what we purchase at the local grocery store has a limited shelf life. Even when companies add ingredients to extend the freshness of their products, there comes a point when they are no longer safe for human consumption.
What then comes of our ideas and aspirations after a certain period of time? Do they reach a point where they are no longer valid? I believe that it is within our control to avoid having an expiration date.
Unlike the pieces of fruit or the carton of milk that will spoil or sour after a period of time, our desire to improve our situations or to maintain what we already possess is entirely within our control.
We all have the ability to avoid an expiration date by educating ourselves. In 2008 the housing market went into the dumpster. A large number of people began losing their homes. the foreclosure rate was approaching a staggering amount when the HAMP program showed up. At the time I was not really paying attention to this situation at all.
That was until I had endured a few months without child support and had to make a fateful decision. I had to decide whether I was reaching my expiration date in the home both of my kids had always known. I was terrified of calling the bank and admitting that I could not afford my monthly payments. I was working full time and trying to maintain our home on less than forty thousand dollars a year for three people. I managed to avoid the expiration date by negotiating a mortgage amount I could handle.
Since I could not afford to make the payment in time to mail out a certified check, I would call the bank every month and have them draft the amount from my account. This simple action saved me and my kids from foreclosure. I had actually made seven of these trial payments before I realized that I had not received my final modification documents. When I called the bank they tried to tell me I had not made all the payments. Unfortunately for them, I had access to all of my bank statements online. I retrieved the necessary information and they were FORCED to reinstate my modification without any penalties.
We all have trying times that can try and knock us down. But we can decide how we want things to work out to our advantage. By taking control over what we can, it will help us to avoid those people and circumstances that would otherwise prove to be our undoing. Decide today when your expiration date will be. Make the necessary adjustments to remain relevant.