Doesn’t it always seem to be the case that when your savings account is low… that’s when an unexpected expense will crop up?
If you read my monthly goal posts, you’ll know that Jerry and I had been planning to start saving for upcoming car repairs this fall for both of us. Well, his car kinda crapped out way before we anticipated and we had to get it fixed way before we were prepared to. I was a ball of anxiety while we waited for the call from the mechanic telling us what the total would be. I was very relieved when it came back to be $427 total for the repair. Yep, a large chunk of money, but small potatoes in the world of car repairs. Because we didn’t have that money saved up in time, it required taking a large chunk out of our weekly paycheck to pay for it.
You know how I told you we transfer money each week / paycheck for our mortgage and student loans? Instead of paying our two largest bills all in one shot, we divide the total by four and transfer that money each week so it’s less of a hit when we pay them. Because of the car repair, we couldn’t transfer the mortgage / student loan money that week. As a result, we now have to transfer more money to cover that missed one for the next three weeks / checks to compensate for the missed one. Follow me?
That means that the rest of the month is going to be tight for us, money-wise. I have to budget very carefully and ensure that we are not going to overspend. All of our bills will be covered, no problem, but we will be left with not much “fun” money. We were extremely fortunate that we were able to cover this unexpected expense and that it was low enough that we COULD pay it all. I was adamant about not using credit cards for the repair, and we succeeded! I’m really happy about that.
On the other hand, I can’t help but feel silly that I was stressed nonstop while we were waiting to hear what the total would be. We should have had enough in our savings to cover a car repair, and we didn’t. We shouldn’t HAVE to be nervous about unexpected or emergency expenses that crop up… we should just always have enough in our savings / emergency fund that we don’t sweat it at all. This is part of why I’m so excited to be on this journey to financial freedom. I can’t wait to be out of debt. I can’t wait to stop handing over most of our hard earned money to lenders. I can’t wait for our money to actually be OURS, and for us to have the ability to keep most of our money and put it into savings. I hate living on edge and in a constant state of stress, wondering when the next financial crisis will arise. I never want to be put in a position again where something unexpected comes up and we have hardly anything put aside to cover it. This situation has inspired me and motivated me yet again to keep on keepin’ on. It has also pushed me to start putting more into savings, even while we’re paying down debt. We need to be focused on both of these things simultaneously, and not just one or the other.
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