Yesterday was an excellent illustration on why an emergency fund is a frugal person's best friend.
Having a tire blow out on you can be a scary (and dangerous!) experience. Thankfully my tire blow out was not as dramatic as the picture looks- it was pretty much a LOUD sound and a mild jostling, and I was able to pull over quickly. I was touched by how many people stopped to see if I needed help.
Clearly there was no way for the tire to be repaired; we were going to have to replace it. We made phone calls to several area tire stores and found the replacement we wanted at a price we were happy with, but it still came to about $90.
My husband is on reduced hours at his work- which means his paycheck is also reduced. As I was dealing with the tire situation as traffic whizzed by, I was so thankful that we had an emergency fund. There was a time that an unexpected $90 would have had to go on the credit card or the need would have gone unmet. Having an emergency fund made the tire blowout a minor inconvenience rather than a major financial crisis.
You do not need a lot of money to start an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey recommends having $1000 saved for situations just like this. If you're in a lot of debt for do not have a large income, $1000 can seem like a lot, but saving little bits here and there add up over time.
For more Frugal Friday tips, head on over to Crystal's blog.
3 comments:
We are working on our emergency fund right now, thanks for sharing your real life story!
I have a terrible personality quirk that makes me think of weird things to say in tough situations. When I saw the picture of your tire my first thought was of walking into the tire dealership and asking if they could patch it. No? Not funny? Oh well, my husband laughs, I guess that is why we're a perfect match.
Glad you made it through safely!
Mrs Marcos- that is HILARIOUS! :) I should have done that.
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