« Big(ger) Ticket Items | Home | The 401(k) Lesson from “Project Runway” »
Money Problems Get You Down?
By Molly's Brother | July 26, 2006
I stumbled into the world of personal finance blogging because, years ago, I needed to get a better understanding of my own finances. At that time, I felt that I had no control over my life. My days unfurled in front of me at an accelerated pace. And each day was filled with the same level of monotony. There was a rote, restrictive pattern to my life. I didn’t do anything original or exciting or fun because, quite frankly, such things end up costing me money.
Every so often though, the drudgery of days would be peppered with an Expensive Unplanned Event (EUE). And once an Expensive Unplanned Event located my whereabouts, he called all of his friends in the neighborhood over to my house for a party. Once one EUE appeared into my life, others showed up unannounced and toppled over and crashed into each other. One morning I remember feeling particularly distraught financially. With bills due and my bank account dwindling, I did some creative math in my mind and discovered I had just enough funds left until payday to cover my costs. I was relieved. I felt like the Governor had called in the pardon minutes before midnight.
And then I walked out of my house on my way to the gym and saw it. An EUE that arrived in the form of a parking ticket. There it was slipped under my wiper blade, pinned to the windshield, it’s lower half blowing in the wind, seemingly taunting me because I had forgotten it was Tuesday. And Tuesdays meant street cleaning. And street cleaning meant parking tickets. I took the ticket in my hand, turned right around and marched back up to my apartment. I closed the door behind me and I collapsed to the floor. I was having a mini-breakdown.
“Does it ever stop?” I remember thinking.
Today, with a little more clarity, I can finally answer that question. Unfortunately, it’s still the same conclusion I came to that Tuesday morning: No. It never stops. There’s always something. That Tuesday morning years back I felt isolated and depressed and frustrated that I didn’t have control over my life.
But today—and again, with a little more clarity—I am at peace with knowing that I don’t have control of my life. Because today, I have worked to put into place some very important measures to make sure that when those Expensive Unplanned Events occur, I have a buffer between me and the floor. I have a buffer between feeling like I control my life instead of feeling like my life controls me. (Trust me: I understand it is only a feeling of control, only a fragile perception that can be shattered at a moment’s notice.)
For those of you who have read this blog for sometime, you know I am a believer in creating and maintaining an Emergency Fund that can cover three-to-six months of your living expenses. Focus on getting that fund filled. Focus on creating that buffer to cushion your fall if an exceptionally expensive EUE comes calling. With money in the bank, you have a heightened level of agility when traversing through the sometimes rocky and steep path in life.
However, don’t make money issues your sole focus (or your soul focus, for that matter). Continue to live your life richly and fully while intently working on getting that emergency fund in place.When I was particularly financially despondent, I neglected to enjoy the activities in which I used to engage with such passion. I didn’t read, I didn’t write, I didn’t work out (well, I never really enjoyed that last activity with any sense of vigor, but it still troubled me that I fell out of the routine entirely). Don’t forget you. Don’t forget your self.
Unplanned Events, both expensive and inexpensive, will forever annoy our lives and inflict us with moments of sheer frustration. However, by setting and working towards financial goals, you ensure that money troubles won’t always succeed in pulling you down.
Topics: Emergency Fund |
September 17th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
[…] Emergency Fund’s In Place […]
December 11th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
[…] There’s been a lot of talk around the blogosphere lately about the Expensive Unplanned Event. Depending on our level of financial security, different things can affect different people in different ways. A couple of years ago, a parking ticket caused a momentary meltdown. I had no idea how I was going to cover the measly $30 ticket. Even though the deadline for paying it was three weeks off, I remember laying awake at night in full panic wondering where I was going to get that money. (Eventually, as it usually does, everything turned out fine.) […]