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