We received our property tax reassessment in the mail the other day. And if you live in Cook County Illinois – like we do – and are aware of the tepid financial situation of said county and state – like we are! – you know that your property tax bill is going up. It’s just a matter of how much. And in our case, it was a solid 40% increase! 

Was I frustrated? Did this make me mad? You bet. 

But do either of those things change anything about the situation? Nope.

I like to ask myself the question, “How can my actions make this better?”

Rather than hopping on Facebook to complain about my increase with my neighbors, I spent some time researching comparable properties online and reached out to my township assessor’s office to start my property tax appeal instead. 

(You may want to look into doing the same.)

Whenever we’re faced with adversity – financial or otherwise – in our lives, it’s a good idea to remember we DON’T control what happens to us but we DO control what we decide to do about it.

In the case of our property taxes, we made the decision five years ago to buy a smaller house with a lower mortgage payment so we’d still have plenty of breathing room in our cash flow even as our property taxes continued to increase. We can’t control the increase of our property taxes but we can control our housing decisions.

It’s normal to be upset when life throws something at you that you didn’t expect. And it’s important to acknowledge how you’re feeling – sad, frustrated, mad – about it. But once you’ve made that acknowledgement, your best use of energy moving forward is returning your focus to what you can do about it. 

It might not feel like it in that moment but you do have choices. You can continue to be upset and let it happen to you or you can choose to do something about it. And if you need some help figuring out what to do about it, that’s what I’m here for.

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