Eric's Credit Community

About 4 months ago a big gust of wind came by and blew off a good chunk of siding off of the front of my house.  

I filed a claim with home owners insurance and they gave me about $2500 for the damage.  When I bought this place a year ago the home inspector noted the poor siding job.  Basically the rest of this vinyl siding is about to fall off and I think I am on the hook for it as I knew about it when buying the house.  Insurance will not give me funds for a whole job of new siding.  I have made my piece with the insurance situation. Due to home values going down I do not think I have enough equity to take out a second loan against my house without triggering PMI.

I think it would be best to get all of the siding replaced by a reputable firm.  I have no home owners association in this neighborhood so I have not been forced to do this.  My plan has been to save up for the next several months to afford the improvement.  However there are several neighbors on my street with their house for sale, and I do not want to be a sore thumb of the neighborhood any longer then need be.

I will be using any additional funds I have after the work is completed to pay down some credit card debit that is currently at 20%.

Currently my budget is as follows:

Take home Income:

Mine (Senior Systems Administrator) $5300 (after $1000 a month in 401k)

Wife (ICU RN) $3000 - $5000 month (variable income due to irregular nursing hours)


Typical months expenses

-2000 mortgage
-500 credit card bills (paying between double and triple the minimums for the last 10 or so months)
-600 electric, water, TV, internet, cell phones for several family members
-200 car insurance
-100 life insurance
-100 gym
-1000 food (we eat out A LOT)
-250 maid service
-1000 savings

This leaves between $2500 and $4500 a month for discretionary spending.  To be honest we buy more junk then we should, but have been doing a pretty good job at not over spending for the past 2 years.
We also own our two cars out right and both are current and reliable transportation, a 2005 Acura RSX and a 2003 Ford F-150.   We are happy with our cars and are not looking to get another one until our first child comes along.

I would love to get a loan through Prosper for this purpose.  I have heard about the site for a few months and love this concept.