Murphy attempts … Foiled!
This week there have been not just one but TWO Murphy’s Law attempts on my finances. Neither one will be successful, though, and I won’t even have to touch my “baby” emergency fund to handle either one. I love this plan Dave Ramsey calls “financial peace.”
Murphy Attempt #1: the City!
A while back ago, my neighbor’s car had the rear axle lock up, and I gave him permission to put it in my extra driveway while it was being repaired. Well, last week I received a letter from the city’s board of codes and building letting me know that a car on jackstands was against city ordinance and it needed to be moved by this past Monday. The fine for non-compliance is $50 a day. I immediately let my neighbor know about it, and he worked all weekend and is out there again in over 100 F heat still trying to get it fixed. I’ve tried to talk to the citing officer, but all I get is voicemail and no return call.
If I do get fined, I guess I will just pay it (I have the money sitting in my account) and mark it as “charity” in my budget since this neighbor is retired and on a fixed income. Usually I pay him every summer to mow my lawn as a way to help out without offending his pride.
Murphy Attempt #2: Son’s school
I’ve been puzzled for the last two weeks since my son’s school hadn’t auto-drafted the tuition payment yet. Today when I opened the mail I found a bill for the August installment of tuition. After a quick call to the business office there, I discovered something was wrong with the auto-draft I set up back in the spring … oh, and that payment is due by Friday close of business. Here I had been under the impression that the private civilian sector was better with this kind of thing than the army is…
Well, I haven’t spent the tuition payment yet…it’s been sitting in my account since the beginning of the month “just in case” there had been some kind of mistake, since I had some vague recollection of a tuition payment being due this month. Yesterday I had been entertaining happy thoughts of using that money towards the stupid truck payment, but it looks like I did the right thing when I erred on the side of caution and did not spend it or send it off.
I usually do not make a debt snowball payment until the very end of a month, and these two situations have shown me that is the wisest course of action for me. A little bit of planning, and a little caution on my part have averted what would have been two serious money crises and a lot of stress just one year ago when I wasn’t operating with a budget and an emergency fund (even though I didn’t have to use it). Did I mention how much I love this financial peace idea?
