Things I learned from financial disaster.
This has been an expensive week.
First, I had a smallish repair that needed to be done on my 12 year old car. I’m sure you know how that went. What was originally a couple hundred bucks became 5 days in the shop. Then, my air conditioner made a noise. Strike that…it made THE noise. The noise of impending death. A noise that caused my neighbor to text me and say “hey, I was just outside and it sounds like your AC unit is about to launch itself to Mars.” Friends, I’m out just over $11,000 this week and didn’t even leave the house. It’s a good thing my kids like ramen.
It’s easy to get discouraged when you are sticking to a budget and saving as much as you can and the universe seems hell-bent on bankrupting you. One step forward, two steps back. Here are some things I have been reminded of this week:
This too shall pass. This week was hard, but next week will be better. Slowly but surely, things will get back to normal. No matter how tough things get, it’s not forever.
You don’t have to feel bad about using your savings. I feel intense guilt about using my emergency savings, even when it’s a literal emergency. That twinge of anxiety about seeing the balance dwindle can keep me up at night, but I work hard to remind myself that I planned for a rainy day, and there’s no shame in using that umbrella.
Debt isn’t a failure. I had to finance a new AC unit, and that’s okay. In fact, I don’t know many people who have that kind of money laying around. Part of me feels bad about that, but the realistic part knows there’s no money police coming to punish me for not having a spare $10K.
Keep moving forward. Did I pay too much? Did I get suckered into a bigger repair than I needed? What is going to break next? The what if’s will make you unhinged. Chalk it up to a learning experience, be happy that the issues are resolved and get on with life. The ship has sailed, so let it go.
It’s not lost on me that a cool house and a running vehicle makes me more fortunate than most. For now, I will thank my lucky stars for the ability to handle it and get back to saving for the next storm.
