Being debt free gives alot of options. The only debt we owe is our home. I would not change anything about my financial situation except having the house paid for in full. If I could go back and change anything it would be saving more money so that we would not owe alot on the house.
Recently we have encountered a situation where the water company is telling us that we MUST install to their new sewer system. That means that we will have to pay to be connected and have a private contractor install the connection. This will mean thousands of dollars. I’m not exaggerating either…thousands!
Just because we are debt free does not mean that we have money not being used right now. We are a single income family with 3 kids and a baby on the way. In this matter someone else is making a choice for us. So, what are our choices? Since the matter is out of our hands and Murphy’s law has stepped in the only logical idea is to plan for this expense.
My husband and I sat down and discussed everything that was covered in the meeting. The project will begin late 2014-2015 so we have time to plan and get a handle on at least part of the project expense. I guess my other hang up is it will tear up our yard and will begin in the summer.
Being debt free helps because I could not imagine coming up with these funds AND owing a car pmt., credit cards, or student loans.
After much consideration we have a rough idea of our game plan.
1. Start an envelope.
Since we both follow the Dave Ramsey plan then we decided to open an envelope titled “sewer project”.
2. Skip vacation this year.
All of the money that my husband would earn from his second job doing taxes would go to our vacation. This year we will have to take that money and save it toward this payment.
3. Cut back on eating out.
We usually set aside about $100.00 per month on eating out. Over the next year that savings will amount to approximately $1200.00.
4. Adjust our grocery bill.
I am not sure how much we can save monthly for this but once the plan is implemented then I will have an idea of how many coupons need to be cut and ways to cut down.
5. Reconstruct our budget.
Our budget will need a once over and some “extras” that we could afford will have to be negotiated.
6. Extra income.
A few extra dollars per month via selling our chicken eggs, or taking in some ironing/ laundry may be necessary on my part.
Unexpected expenses that are required are never fun, but life does happen.
Priorities in saving are very necessary. That is why we must have a plan in place and some sort of saving envelope. If we fail to plan, then we will plan to fail.
There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.
But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/teegardin/5537894072/”>kenteegardin</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>
(picture credit to www.seniorliving.org)
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Good for you for being proactive with this. It’s disheartening that a utility is telling you that you have to do something that will cost you money.