We had to take my hubby's Durango in to get fixed yesterday. We got the call a few hours later that it would need over $300 in repairs~darn! Doesn't it seem like every time you get a little bit ahead something happens and you have to pay for a car repair or something breaks in the house?
It really got me thinking about our circumstances and what it truly means to be on the road to getting debt free (we're almost there~except for the house, but not quite). A few years ago a phone call letting us know about a costly car repair would have sent us reeling. We would have been calling our credit cards to see if we had enough open to pay for the repair. Most likely we would have been panicking and edgy and it would truly have ruined our day, if not our weekend. A few years ago before we paid it off, our payment on the truck was $530/month, so a repair bill on top of that would have been extremely difficult. This would have been an emergency for our family as my husband needs that car to get to work.
For us, being almost debt free means that we had already set up our baby emergency fund of $1000 before paying down our debt. We were able to cover the cost of the repair without reaching for a credit card. I can't tell you how freeing that feels. The car repair that would have been an emergency became an inconvenience (dropping off and picking up the truck and being without it for the day).
The message that I want to get across is that things go wrong in life. Your car will need repairs. Your house will need repairs. When you set aside $1000 to cover these little emergencies while you are trying to eradicate your debt, you will eliminate the need to reach for a credit card. You will put your family in a position of strength instead of weakness.
Bring some peace to your family and turn your emergencies into inconveniences :)
No comments:
Post a Comment