Oh Bother!

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You won't believe what I did!


I made a huge mess.


Background first.


My sweet husband is a "numbers guy." He keeps a huge, complicated spreadsheet for our personal finances. There are accounts for this and that and he keeps up with all of it. My financial ability requires the use of my fingers or a pencil so that I can borrow and carry. Even then, a correct answer is not a given. I used to try to balance the checkbook. It would take him longer to undo what I had mistakenly done than if he had done it himself the first time.


When he offered to set up a separate account for me to use for our homeschooling, I thought he was just being thoughtful. I have a debit card so that I can order a book or other supplies and Kregg doesn't ever have to mess with it. There is a set amount that goes in that account every two weeks.


It should have dawned on me that his true motivation was self preservation.


I should be offended.


But after what I just pulled, I can never again be anything but meek in the presence of his financial genius.


Caleb's Jeep needed some work while he was home for the Christmas break. When I took him over there to pick it up, I whipped out the card and paid for the repairs ($500). Not until 10:00 the next night did I suspect there was a problem. My number expert husband noticed that the last four digits on the receipt were not ones he recognized. 


My heart stopped.


In a flash, I realized what I had done!


I handed the mechanic my homeschooling debit card by mistake! And guess what?! There certainly wasn't $500 dollars in that account. I don't recall ever "bouncing" a payment on anything before. I was absolutely horrified! I called the mechanic's phone number, hoping that there might be an answering machine. There wasn't.


Then I tried to call the bank. As if they would be open at 10:00 pm! I tried next to get on to the online banking to see if there was any way to fix things there. Having entered the wrong password too many times, I was locked out of the online function. I was also locked out of the app on my phone. I had to concede defeat for the night.


Starting about 7:20 the next morning, I started trying to call the mechanic. Thankfully, he answered. I explained what I had done, trying to sound like someone who deserved forgiveness. He was very kind, but he didn't know if my payment had "bounced" until after 8. He called me back then and told me that the payment had been cleared and everything was okay.


Next, I had to go groveling to the bank. I got there before they opened, so they would know how penitent I was. I explained the complete disaster I had made of everything: the payment to the mechanic, access to my online banking, and access to my mobile banking. It took the very patient young man at the bank a long time to straighten out my mess.


Next time I show up at the bank, I bet he finds something very urgent needs his immediate attention in the back room. :)