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And That’s Why You Have An Emergency Fund

Filed under Money & Finances, Personal

Last week I had the “check engine” light come on in my car.

Awesome.

I love it when lights on my dashboard come on.  Not really.  It’s never something positive like “you just won the lottery” or “hey Grant, you look nice today.”

A light on the dashboard typically means, “Hey buddy, hope you didn’t have plans for the weekend, because I’m about ready to cost you some cash!”

So I took it in to be worked on.  First, it was just a sensor that needed to be replaced.  Then, some tune-up work came into the picture.  And next thing you know, I was swiping my debit card for $372 (because you don’t need a credit card for emergencies).

Awesome.

But here’s my point.  A few years ago, this would have been a major stress, because I wouldn’t have had $377 for such a situation.  But thankfully we have an emergency fund for times such as this.

So while I can probably think of 372 different things I’d rather do with $372 than pay a mechanic, it didn’t cause a panic attack.

Instead of it being a huge crisis and cause for stress, now it’s just an inconvenience.  A very minor bump in the road (which my car will be better suited for now with it’s awesome new sensor and tune-up).

And that’s why you have an emergency fund…for when lights appear on your dashboard.

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2 Comments

  1. Your Wife
    Posted August 3, 2009 at 5:50 pm | Permalink

    and that’s why I love you! Because you take such good care of us and our finances:)

  2. SHELBY
    Posted November 13, 2009 at 4:18 pm | Permalink

    This sounds so familiar. Everytime i take my car to the garage due to some light coming on its never under like 300 bucks i have spent more fixing my car than we paid for it! Oh well, i guess it was still cheaper than buying a brand new car. Plus i am sure everything on it works great now that i have replaced most of the parts =]

One Trackback

  1. [...] Fund Makes “Emergencies” Feel More Like Inconveniences – I talked recently about another car issue and how thankful I was to have our emergency fund.  When I had to spend $155 on tires, it [...]

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