We have been working hard to over the last few months. We’ve been quite successful, although it is hard to change long term habits. We’re paying down the credit cards. We have our emergency fund ready should an emergency occur. It seems though, that Mr Murphy is not all that keen on us sticking to our plans.
Since we have taken our new financial stance a number of things have “popped” up. We discovered a leak in one of the bedroom windows, the television died, the dishwasher may be dead, the el cheapo light fittings our builder used are coming to the end of their lives and yesterday, The Engineer broke the shed window (footy).
The Thinker is getting impatient to get these things fixed, but I’m having trouble dipping into our emergency fund. Are these things really emergencies? He has convinced me that home maintenance is something that needs to be done. The other things can wait.
In the back of my mind, I’ve been basically following Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. My problem is the attitude that we shouldn’t be using the emergency fund. I’ve been thinking that we’re done with that step and now we’re onto the next one (getting rid of debt). Have you ever had your hands full and then got an itchy nose? You can’t scratch it without putting everything else down again. It seems that’s what’s happening with our finances.
Finally, this morning the penny dropped for me. I’ve been so keen to move on that I’ve forgotten what the big picture is. It’s OK to take a step backwards when you need to. It’s OK to use the emergency fund for legitimate emergencies. Then go back to the previous step, build the emergency fund again. It probably only puts us two months behind where I had planned to be and our house won’t be falling down around our ears.
Related articles by Zemanta
Flickr photo by Martin Kingsley
Subscribe via RSS
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Depending on your home it may be wise to put general home maintenance into your regular budget and not rely on your emergency fund. One way you can minimize a hit on your emergency fund, or your budget, is to do repairs yourself. There are a number of good DIY resources on the Net. The Handyguys Podcast is a unique combination of a blog and a podcast on home improvement and DIY topics. You can ask questions of The Handyguys and we will get back to you very quickly. You have a maintenance list as “a leak in one of the bedroom windows, the television died, the dishwasher may be dead, the el cheapo light fittings our builder used are coming to the end of their lives and yesterday, The Engineer broke the shed window (footy)”In terms of priority – A leak in a window (letting water in the house or wall) should be a priority. if you are on a very strict budget and over your head in debt then a new TV should not be a priority. Take that as an opportunity to cancel your cable subscription if you have one. Same with a dishwasher. Hand washing used to be the norm. Light fixtures don’t go bad. And for the Shed window? ‘The Engineer’ broke it, he should fix it.The Handyguys have episodes on DIY appliance repair athttp://www.handyguyspodcast.com/109/episode-20-appliance-repairsand DIY window repair athttp://www.handyguyspodcast.com/32/episode-7-broken-glassGood luck with your budget and feel free to contact The Handyguys at http://www.handyguyspodcast.com if you have and DIY or home maintenance questions.
Yes, Handyguys, it seems like we are reaching the maintenance phase in our home’s life (it’s 10 years old). Your suggestion to include maintenance in the budget is a good one. Thanks for your suggestions on the priority of our list. We have the items in the order you suggested. TV & dishwasher can wait (in fact we’ve been without a dishwasher for some time now).
I’m going to check out your podcast & suggest it to my husband as well. I may email you about the lights. It’s not the actual fixture, but the bit the wires connect into – they are all becoming cracked and lose their connections.
Thanks for calling by