Doubling down: a second mortgage

Tuesday morning we'll be at the credit union to close on a home equity loan for home improvements. After aborting a more expensive plan last fall, we've been working on a more limited plan for a small covered deck and some new windows. It's something we've known we'd need to do almost since the moment we moved in almost 5 years ago, and it's going to be a big improvement, but it makes me a little queasy just the same.

With Carmen out of work and back in school, we're doing fine, but the margins for error are going to be tight for a while, especially until we finish paying off the car in March. I just can't really think of a better way to do it. We can't really put it off longer, for various reasons, and I'm not sure there's a good way to do it for less money. Until Carmen gets out of school, I guess we've got to keep all of our eggs in one slightly disabled basket.