52 Week Savings Challenge: Week 14

For those of you out there who do not know me, I am a planner and do not handle the unexpected too well.  My first initial reaction to life’s mini bombs is to become panic stricken and completely freak out over the situation, regardless of how small and insignificant the bomb may be. To me even a paper cut will seem life-threatening. I will admit this is not one of my best qualities; however, I am working on it, and as of now I cannot see any significant progress, but that is a different blog.

That little smidge of background information leads me to tell you about a couple of things that happened to me over the past few weeks.

Bomb 1: I am enjoying my Sunday evening laying on my couch being lazy when I remembered something that I had needed to get out of the spare room in the back of my house. Other than a few things in the closet, the room is completely empty. As I walk in the room I notice little specs of reflecting light on the floor and as I walk over I can feel the color drain from my already pale face. Glass! This is about the time when panic starts to set in. I frantically raised my blinds and confirmed that, the world did in fact…hate me! Apparently, someone in my neighborhood likes to play golf and obviously needs LOTS of practice since the ball went through my window and landed on the other side of my room.

Of course, I go into freak out mode trying to figure out how I will replace the glass in a custom-size floor to ceiling window while doing this savings challenge. After phone calls to every glass place in the area and prices at a minimum of $250, I lucked out and found a family member who was able to replace it for me. All I had to do was purchase the glass and caulk. Score!

Bomb 2: I get home from long day at work and it was still pretty hot outside.  I normally keep the temperature in my house around 78 degrees to be conservative with energy (and money), but it was noticeably warmer in the house. So reluctantly, I turned down the air and even after a few hours it was still hot! I am thinking to myself, “What is the deal! Am I getting sick?” I go back and check the thermostat and it reads 80 degrees. I live in an older house that is well insulated so I know something is wrong.

Once again “Tawny Panic Mode” begins and I immediately Google everything I can find that may be the problem and how much it will cost to fix my AC. It is not in my budget right now to buy a new air conditioner or be able to have mine fixed. I have a friend that had an AC guy come take a look at my unit. Then the AC man delivered the earth shattering news. I have to have my entire AC unit inside and out replaced, which will cost several thousand dollars! Thankfully, my family is going to help me out, but now I will also be paying them back for the money on top of my savings challenge! I tell you, when it rains, it pours. I guess it could be worse, although I am curious to see how this will affect my savings.

So, the first lesson learned from  my life bombs is, it’s not enough to just have emergency money. You need emergency back up money for your emergency money because life bombs will happen when you least expect it and may come in multiples, so be ready. I hear they come in threes, but I am hoping that is just an old wives’ tale, or else I need to be on the lookout.  Second lesson learned, always become friends with people who have connections and resources you may need.

Total Savings: $105

By: Tawny Ormes
      Marketing Projects Coordinator
      and TBT Webmaster

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