We have some upcoming expenses. For the first time I feel prepared for the things I used to consider "surprises" although I knew they were coming. Father's Day is coming soon. In the past I would wait for the last minute and would have had no estimation of what it was going to cost. I would consider this one of those things that snuck up on me although it is in June every year. Our dog is due for a haircut. Another thing we should be budgeting for once every 4-6 months. Our car needs an oil change. It is WAY overdue. Another thing to budget for every 3-4 months. These are all expenses that we could have prepared for if we were paying attention to our money and following Dave's plans. However, we only just began Baby Step #2, so we do not have the money put aside in a "sinking fund" for any of these expenses. And on top of that, we both have had car trouble.
My husband's brakes completely quit on him while driving down the road. He had to use his emergency brake the whole way home. He thought he figured out what he needed to fix it and he bought the part ($61.29). He put it in the car and tried the brakes again. Still didn't work. So, he gave up and took it to our favorite mechanic. He drained the brakes and rotated my husband's terrible tires. The bill came...FREE! He wouldn't take our money. We owed him nothing. It was such a blessing. But, then my car had brake problems as well. I told my husband my brakes have been squeaky for a little while and it just didn't feel right. But, some days nothing seemed wrong, so I kept putting it off. Finally, while away on a business trip (yesterday), my husband drove the car and he heard/felt it for the first time and suggested we take it to the shop. I drove it this morning and it was just awful! The worst sound and feeling ever when stepping on the brake. So, on my lunch break we took the car in. We were also in need of some new tires. It looks like it is going to actually cost us around ($525) to get 2 new tires, a 3rd one plugged, totally repair the brakes/calipers on the drivers side rear, and an oil change. I only budgeted for ($390) as you can see above. This is super unfortunate, but must be done.
On top of this situation, my husband is a team manager and his team members bid for new shifts every 6 months. It has been a tradition to give his new team a goodie bag when this happens. Employees willingly bid on his shift, which is a crappy one, because they like him so much, and I like to think it's got something to do with the cool goodie bags, lol! So, we decided we were going to continue the tradition since our Emergency Fund is larger than it is supposed to be at ($3000) we feel we can still do this. We will both try to take money from our allowances to cover the costs, and to cover the costs of our dog's haircut as well. However, we will be pulling from our ($3000) emergency fund initially. I know, all the Dave fans would like to kill me for pulling money out of our EF just to buy goodie bags, but it is just "one of those things" that you aren't willing to give up because of the greater purpose of it. These bags aren't just goodie bags, they show appreciation to the team. It welcomes them and sets a positive tone.
I will update with the actual costs on everything in a later post. I just want to say, I have never felt less stressed out about car problems before! This is the first time I got a call back from my mechanic and said, "Fix everything, no problem!" It is a great feeling and I have that EF to thank for it. Now, we just need to start sinking funds for these types of costs that we know will come up in the future so that we don't necessarily have to use our EF. Thanks for listening!
My husband's brakes completely quit on him while driving down the road. He had to use his emergency brake the whole way home. He thought he figured out what he needed to fix it and he bought the part ($61.29). He put it in the car and tried the brakes again. Still didn't work. So, he gave up and took it to our favorite mechanic. He drained the brakes and rotated my husband's terrible tires. The bill came...FREE! He wouldn't take our money. We owed him nothing. It was such a blessing. But, then my car had brake problems as well. I told my husband my brakes have been squeaky for a little while and it just didn't feel right. But, some days nothing seemed wrong, so I kept putting it off. Finally, while away on a business trip (yesterday), my husband drove the car and he heard/felt it for the first time and suggested we take it to the shop. I drove it this morning and it was just awful! The worst sound and feeling ever when stepping on the brake. So, on my lunch break we took the car in. We were also in need of some new tires. It looks like it is going to actually cost us around ($525) to get 2 new tires, a 3rd one plugged, totally repair the brakes/calipers on the drivers side rear, and an oil change. I only budgeted for ($390) as you can see above. This is super unfortunate, but must be done.
On top of this situation, my husband is a team manager and his team members bid for new shifts every 6 months. It has been a tradition to give his new team a goodie bag when this happens. Employees willingly bid on his shift, which is a crappy one, because they like him so much, and I like to think it's got something to do with the cool goodie bags, lol! So, we decided we were going to continue the tradition since our Emergency Fund is larger than it is supposed to be at ($3000) we feel we can still do this. We will both try to take money from our allowances to cover the costs, and to cover the costs of our dog's haircut as well. However, we will be pulling from our ($3000) emergency fund initially. I know, all the Dave fans would like to kill me for pulling money out of our EF just to buy goodie bags, but it is just "one of those things" that you aren't willing to give up because of the greater purpose of it. These bags aren't just goodie bags, they show appreciation to the team. It welcomes them and sets a positive tone.
I will update with the actual costs on everything in a later post. I just want to say, I have never felt less stressed out about car problems before! This is the first time I got a call back from my mechanic and said, "Fix everything, no problem!" It is a great feeling and I have that EF to thank for it. Now, we just need to start sinking funds for these types of costs that we know will come up in the future so that we don't necessarily have to use our EF. Thanks for listening!