money

When your car mechanic starts by saying, "Well, how much do you want to spend to fix it," it isn't a good sign. In preparing for an upcoming road trip, there were a few things I wanted to get checked out on our primary (and only) vehicle. It's a great car, and still full of life (I hope) even though she's a little past her prime. So it came as a bit of a shock when to fix what I thought would be a small a/c problem, turned out to be not so small.

Then there was the time when we came home from visiting relatives to find a nice little pool of water under the gas water heater in our brand new (to us) house. After promising my wife that I wouldn't blow up the house, we sucked it up and shelled out for a new water heater. Which I promptly installed, and as promised, did not blow up the house.

Lastly, just eight months ago, the little one was born. Although this was a planned expense, as well as a long term investment (does that sound cold?), nine months sure does fly by. Then after the new baby smell wears off, the bills start trickling in.

Are you prepared when things happen in your life? Until this year, we were not. I wouldn't say that we are debt free, or that we have a huge amount of savings… not even close. However, I do know that when life's little speed bumps come our way, I no longer break into a cold sweat and start wheezing, and for me that's a huge step.