Ever have one of those weeks where things just do not go how you want them to go? Sometimes these weeks are just mental, emotional, financial, and can be all of the above. Mine was all the above this past week. It all worked out, but with a hefty price tag.
The Spiral
So Monday afternoon I was at work when my spouse called to tell me about our daughter’s doctor appointment, she will be having surgery in the next two weeks (nothing major, just costly). As we were on the phone my spouse’s car had power but no get up and go. So I had to leave work to be the knight in shinning armor to rescue my family. We got the car towed to a shop and was told we’d get it back the next day. My spouse called in to work. The parts did not come in, so the car was not fixed. My spouse called in again the next day, but went with me to attend a surgery for another family member. That afternoon I called the shop and still the parts had not come in. We started scrambling for a plan so my spouse did not miss another day of work. We came up with a plan and executed it. On the next day we both got to work as we needed and the parts came in for the car and the repair shop did some great things to make it right for us. My vehicle had been scheduled to get a leak fixed, so this morning we took it in to get fixed.
The Plan
We had previously planned to buy a third vehicle next month so our daughter could drive herself to school next year. Due to the repair issues and things, we escalated our timeline by excatly 30 days and got another vehicle. My spouse did not want a change and we want our daughter to use mine, so I got the newer vehicle. We of course bought a used vehicle and got it at a great price and it has the majority of all the features we wanted. Honestly, I feel I got more than what I expected with my new ride.
The Cost Estimate for the Week:
Car 1 Repair $3400.00
Car 1 Towing $170.00
Car 2 Repair $1060.00
Car 3 Downpayment $1000.00
Total on cars $5630.00
This does not count gas to and from places, missed time at work, other things we had to pay for to get through everything. Our emergency took a hit, so we are refocusing to rebuild our emergency fund. Take a look at yours and see where you are. Please note, the downpayment did not come from our emergency fund, but the vehicle repairs mostly did as they were a lot more than we were expecting.