I think this is the week for everything to break down…
::Our home air-conditioning quit last Thursday. I couldn’t figure out why I was sweating and roasting all day until I went over and felt warm air blowing out of the vents. No wonder! Gratefully, we are renting right now so a quick call to our landlords, two repairmen, and a few hours later, the A/C was good as new. And just in time for this hot June weather. (How did people ever live without A/C??)
::Two days later, the A/C in my husband’s vehicle went out. He couldn’t determine the problem and ended up taking it in. We thought it was fixed, but this morning it is still not working right and there appears to be some bigger issues than just the A/C.
::As if that wasn’t enough excitement, Sunday the A/C in our van went out. The plan was to take the van in last evening to get it worked on but then the van wouldn’t even start.
We have an out-of-town funeral to attend today so we ended up finding a great deal on a rental car since neither vehicles are up for eight hours of driving. And we’ll determine what to do next when we arrive home.
One thing is for sure, it’s times like these when I am so thankful for our emergency fund! Instead of worrying about how on earth we’re going to pay for these unexpected expenses, we can just dip into our emergency fund.
This is also one of those times when you realize just how much budgeting and penny-pinching really pays off!
Thank you, God, for your kind provision for us and thank you, Dave, for all your wise financial advice!
I am so glad that you posted this post. My DH and I are doing the baby steps, too, and are nearly finished paying off our debt (with the exception of the house). It is really great to see how it has worked for your family.
Oh Crystal, what a week! And what a blessing to not have stress about it all.
We’re still working on building up our emergency fund, and Dave Ramsey is a huge inspiration.
*keeping my fingers crossed that our A/C holds out until our emergency fund is complete!*
🙂 Lavonne
When it rains it pours! 🙂 and why is it that the a/c always goes out just as it gets hot?
I’ve always thought myself lucky since even though my dad didn’t do well budgeting the one thing he taught me was to have an emergency fund. And then we received Dave’s book as a wedding gift. The best gift we got!
Hope all works out well!
I really didnt understand what financial peace meant until this type of thing happened to me. It really makes all the difference in the world, doesnt it? Thanks for your website, it helps me stay on budget.
good for you!
We ended up renting a vehicle when our temporary one-car situation went awry.
It actually made the trip so much more fun and luxurious for the small rental fee! Plus, we didn’t worry about the car breaking down on such a long drive.
With coupons, we may try this strategy again for our next trip.
We are huge fans of Dave as well…and just starting FPU this fall. I’m SO excited about it…digging deeper and getting that stuff paid off! We have added 3 children in 14 months (2 international adoptions), and rarely a week goes by when I’m not grateful for that emergency fund. Air conditioning, brakes, emergency root canals. Eek!
Amen. A few months ago I got laid off. Had my wife and I not started reading Dave Ramsey’s books, we likely would have not had an emergency fund. That would have created a really stressful few months and likely forced me to take a job that I didn’t want. As it was, I was able to turn down the job I didn’t want and wait for a job that I now love. Can’t say enough about Dave’s plan and what it has done for me and my family. Next week is the last week of the financial peace class we’ve been hosting at our house.
There really is no better feeling than having that emergency fund! We praise the Lord for His provision and Dave Ramsey for teaching us all we know about finances! Thank you for the encouraging testimony!
Yes! My husband and I just finished facilitating a FPU class at my husband’s work. Our way of thinking about money has completely changed. We are going to change our family tree. Anyway, I completely agree about the emergency fund. We’ve had a couple bigger expenses lately but we didn’t fret this time because we were ready for it….for an emergency. Much better than whipping out the credit card (which we’ve shredded by the way).
I thank God for DR too! I feel like he has woke me up from a daze and I look around and can’t believe what I see.
If it weren’t for your blog and some comments from some frugal ladies on my kitting boards I would never had decided to find out what all this Dave Ramsey stuff was about. So thank you too! Dh and I hope to be debt free by next year (except the house) and I just can’t wait!
My husband and I just finished our $1000 emergency fund and we are working on increasing our savings to one months living expenses. I am so thankful that we have it and are saving now incase we need it later.
We had a month like that awhile back, and I’d also have to praise the Lord for leading us to Dave Ramsey’s teachings on getting out of debt and the emergency fund! I’m encouraged by your willingness to be so real and vulnerable with this blog. Thanks for all that you do with it and for all the people you help out by your diligence and perseverance in what the Lord has called you to! Alison
“Ick!” on the car problems! Here’s hoping that next week is a bit less problematic. 🙂
I thought I would provide a slightly different perspective. We don’t believe in dipping into our emergency fund for expenses like that. We view an emergency fund as being there for something more catastrophic. Instead, we budget “car maintenance” into our budget. Since we plan to never again have a car loan, we are now saving our old car loan payment each month. It will eventually be used to pay cash for a new car, but is also intended to cover car repair expenses. Especially since driving older cars comes with the unfortunate side-effect of having to shell out money more often for upkeep.
Good luck on your long trip.
What a blessing the emergency fund is–and your post motivates me to keep going! We are just getting started on TMMO (found Dave about 3 weeks ago), and are working on building ours. Have a safe trip.
I am new to this & thank you so much for all of your info…..I noticed the new Krogers ad has Oral B Indicator manual toothbrushes 10/$10, the P&G brandsaver had a buy 2 get 1 free so you can get 3 for $2, Not sure if there is a krogers loadable to go with that or not, also Crest toothpast $1.94 and there are coupons for .75 off one in P&G brandsaver…dont know if that is helpful or not, Im still VERY new at this
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:19. Isn’t that wonderful?