Climbing Out One Family’s Adventure in Becoming Debt-free

Oh I did NOT just do that. You are kidding me. There is no way I just plowed into the car in front of me, right? I guess every plan needs a good testing now and then. This is apparently time to test ours.

On the way home from work last week I was stopped behind a minivan, second in line at a light in my little Civic. The light changed, we all accelerated and I allowed my attention to be distracted for a moment. Half a second, I’m sure, but nonetheless… I glanced away from the minivan then back to find it completely stopped again.

Crunch. Arg!

What proved interesting about the events that unfolded after said crunching was the calm and peace that I felt once it was clear everyone was okay. “I have a baby emergency fund, I have a baby emergency fund. This will be okay.” kept going through my head. Followed immediately by, “Dang it! No debt snowball payment this month!”

It was a fairly slow fender-bender that did minor cosmetic damage to the van’s bumper and our emergency fund covered it easily. In fact, I’ll bet the quote they gave me will never be filled and they just pocketed the cash I handed them. I have a receipt for the payment, so enjoy the money either way, folks.

My car, on the other hand, is a different story. It’s “stupid tax” time again and I sure deserve it for my momentary inattention. The steam that puffed from the front of my car right after the accident? That was my freon. The air system in my little car is no more. No blower. No air; hot or cold.

We live in the high desert of Southern California. Winter nights go down to the teens and Summer days up to 120F. The quote to replace the broken parts is $900. Back-in-the-day I would have put it on a credit card without thinking twice. I suppose I could make an insurance claim, but we have a high deductable and it really wouldn’t be worth it. Thus the Dad is going back to 255 AC for a while — remember that on your first car? 2 windows down, 55 mph — while we save up.

The wonderful thing was the calmness and peace-of-mind our little emergency fund of $1,000 gave me. Standing there on the side of the road I knew that whatever needed to happen with either car or our insurance, we could handle it and we would not borrow money to do so. I am amazed how a few months on a written budget can bring such clarity.

So we put the debt snowball on hold this month and go back to paying the minimums on our debts. Instead the snowball payment will bring our emergency fund back up to $1,000 with a bit more saved toward the future repair. I expect it will take three full months to save the entire amount. Right to the middle of August.

The middle of August. In the high desert. Oh God. I did NOT just do that.

Yep. But it’s going to be okay.

the Dad