One day before my mortgage was due last month, I woke up to a massive bug infestation in my recently-purchased condo. It was everything nightmares are made of – and then some.

When people tell you homeownership is expensive, they're not lying. In my previous apartment-living life, I would have made a quick phone call to building maintenance and the problem would have been taken care of, all without dropping a dime from my own pocket. But this was my new homeownership life, in which everything was now my responsibility, bug infestation and all.

After the dramatic discovery, I went into action and called an exterminator. I made multiple trips to Home Depot and placed several hysterical phone calls to my parents. The exterminator came out the next day. In a matter of a day or two, I was bug-free and had $1,000 less in my bank account.