Funny how things work out sometimes

It's funny how things work out sometimes.

I've been a little bit worried about money lately - we've got a baby on the way with expensive child care, I might teach next year which means a potentially huge pay cut, and our Florida house hasn't had tenants in months since the last people abandoned the property (a whole other story).

So Jake and I have started saving as much as we possibly can to get ready for a TIGHT year coming up. Of course, we can pay the bills, but I like to have a buffer when I know that money is going to be scarce.

Anyway, last Friday we got a call from our management company in Florida saying that someone wanted to move in on Tuesday, so we actually have tenants now (as of two days ago) on a one year contract. I really hope nothing goes wrong since it seems like the house is cursed.

Then another interesting thing happened. A couple of days ago we got our security deposit refund from our previous apartment complex. I looked at the check and realized they had paid us too much - $550 too much!

And then I'm ashamed to say that I started to rationalize why I should just keep the money. Here are some of the things I said to myself... 1) They made the mistake, 2) It's not like they're a person, it's just a company, 3) We didn't like it there, 4) They towed Jake's car which cost us $220. So what if it was parked illegally? 5) They charged us too much when we moved out. They took $381 out of our deposit for painting and cleaning.

Then I was mad at them for making me think about doing a dishonest thing. So today I called them and told them I thought our check was made out for too much, she checked on it and verified that the refund was for the wrong amount. And then she said something I was thrilled about - it's too much trouble to change now, and the books are balanced, so go ahead and keep it.

So to make a long story short, we get to keep $550 that really isn't ours and I can feel like a decent person because I did the right thing, even though I'm probably not because I thought about keeping the money dishonestly. Dang them for tempting me anyway!