Who Stole our Savings?

As you can see, I finally updated our emergency fund bar. After taking money out for dental bills, new glasses and a car, we still have $3727 in the emergency savings. And that's what it's there for, isn't it? It's going to be a very tightly budgeted month in August because there's the college payment of $940 to pay (which will be mostly refunded after all the loans and scholarships come through), plus Number One Son just called to say he needed to go to the dentist because he thinks he has a cavity. I bought him dental insurance this week, but it won't cover fillings for the first six months. At least it will cover the check up and cleaning, and as he'll be in college for another three years, I figure I should have it on him anyway. Basil's going to attack the credit this month, and I just hope I don't have to dip into the savings again. At least work's picking up for both of us, so we should have a little bit of overtime as well.

The Importance of an Emergency Fund

You never know when you're going to need an emergency fund. Often you think everything will go on as always....until it doesn't. My sister is a case in point. She's been at her job for over 20 years, since she was 24, and making $50,000 a year. Right after her vacation a few weeks ago, she was called into her supervisor's office and told that she "wasn't coordinator material", even though she'd been doing the job for over 7 years. It wasn't a huge surprise, as her manager has a history of personality conflicts with staff, and should not be managing people to begin with. (I also worked for the company and when I gave three months notice to say I was moving across the country, she stopped talking to me because she was hurt that I didn't tell her sooner.) Anyway, my sister is now getting unemployment, but it's a fraction of what she was making. Her husband is working, but they own three houses -- the one they live in, the one her in-laws live-in, and one they're fixing up, plus her husband just bought a new truck, so they have car payments, too. They are living paycheck to paycheck, and though my sister's usually very level-headed and practical, she was in tears and frantic about how she was going to pay her bills. I don't have a huge emergency fund (yet), but if I lost my job tomorrow I'd like to think I'd have enough to hold me over until I got another one. That's why it's so important to have an emergency fund -- you never know if you're going to be laid off or get injured. I know it' s really hard to have a huge chunk of money just sitting in a savings account, when you're thinking about all the cool ways to spend it -- a great Hawaiian vacation, a flat screen TV, or that full-body tattoo you've been wanting. But knowing you have that emergency savings can give you a peace of mind that the tattooed grizzly on your back will never give you.

Using the Emergency Fund Already....

I was so excited to get my emergency fund pie chart up, and now I may be updating it...but not for the better. Basil and I were planning on buying Number One Son a car, or helping him buy one next spring for summer internships, etc. Nothing fancy, just dependable -- and cheap. Well, since we've been talking about it, we've also started commenting on cars for sale that we see. Usually we're joking as they're old giant SUVs or cars where one door is a different color than the rest of the car. This morning after an early hike, we spotted one on our street for $1750 -- and it actually didn't look too bad. Basil went back and looked at it (a Toyota Cressida) and said it was automatic, had a moon roof, and looked well-taken care of. He was home from work today, so he contacted the owner (a teenager, but "clean cut") and took it for a drive. It was a 1989 and had over 250,000 miles on it, but they'd just put a transmission and a radiator in it. All the power locks and windows worked. The only "minor" problem with it is that you can't take the key out. I asked Basil, "What do you mean you can't take the key out?" Well, apparently if you take the key out the steering wheel locks up and you can't get it back in. Hmmmmmm.... Basil assures me that he can rig something to hide the key. So I'm taking it for a drive tonight to see for myself.

Wait - I Have Savings?!?!

Wow, it's been a while, but I just checked my savings account statement the other day (it's not hooked up to my checking, so I tend to ignore it), and realized that I've actually been saving a little lately. In the month of April, I put $1000, in May - $400, and in June - $1400 (cash back from son's college). For the whole year, I've made $72 in interest. So my total savings is up to $6254. I need an emergency fund and haven't decided how much it should be. Three months would be $7200 and I'm almost there. Six would be better, but would be $15,400. My next step is to get one of those bar graphs to chart my progress and post in on the blog home page (along with Basil's debt), but I haven't gotten around to figuring out how to do it yet. Any tips would be appreciated.

What I Did With My Windfall

Busy weekend, but I really am going to get the April expenses/income posted before June. I still have three days and four hours, or 78 hours. I'm posting to report the good deeds I did today. I had received over $3000 back from Number One Son's college, as overpayment, so before it dwindled away in my checking account, I did something with it. I put $1000 into the Roth IRA that I finally set up last year (it had been on my "to do" list for a looooonnnnnngggg time. Then I transferred $1500 over to my high interest savings account. That only leaves me $500 to spend on things like the $270 eye exam and glasses I just got for Number One Son, as well as the dental work I have coming up in June. Oh, yeah....I was supposed to save some for a much needed weekend with Basil....I guess it's a walk through the park and a popsicle.

Money Back from College!

Last night didn't turn out exactly as we'd planned. We waited in a line for the free improv show and the cut-off ended up right in front of us. So we decided to go get something to eat and ended up at one of Basil's favorite "Rock 'n Roll" Thai restaurants which ended up costing $50, though we did have mucho leftovers. Not exactly a cheap or free night.

Good news today though -- got an e-mail from Number One Son's college with $$$$$ as the subject line. The college account finally paid, so I should be getting at least $2000 back that I overpaid last fall (she said the check would be mailed tomorrow). I'm trying not to think about all the interest I could have gotten on that, and just be happy that I got it back at all. A good chunk of that will go into my Roth IRA and the emergency savings account, but we did do a bit of spending today (on the credit card to be paid in full when the bill comes). We purchased a grill that was on sale for $89 (originally priced at $129), because Basil loves to cook on the grill and we thought we'd eat at home more if we had that option. In fact, Basil cooked out on it tonight. Then I took Number One Son clothes shopping since his shoes had a hole in the bottom and sides and I hadn't bought him anything since last fall. I spent around $123 and he got a pair of jeans, two shirts, a pair of shorts, running shoes and three pairs of underwear. I thought we did pretty well since everything was on sale. Those purchases also went on the credit card to be paid in full when it arrives. I feel good knowing that the money is coming, but will feel better when it's actually in my bank account.