I’m so ready for winter to be over. It seems like this year is determined to financially test me. Over and over again I’ve been reminded how important it is for a single parent to have an emergency fund. When there is an unexpected expense there isn’t another income to help cushion that financial blow and sometimes working more hours or getting a second job is just not realistic. That’s where your emergency fund comes in.
I try to put a little money away every payday, even if it’s only ten dollars. It adds up, slowly, but it will add up and be there when you need it. Saving money was a hard lesson for me to learn as a single mother. Money was always tight and I felt like I was squeezing the life out of every penny that came into the house. I soon learned that I would have to squeeze even harder, life is full of unexpected surprises and most of them cost money.
Two days before Thanksgiving I found out my little dog needed to have surgery. For many people a pet would not be a priority but as a single parent of an only child, sometimes our little doggie is the only company Hailey has. I would have rather not had to pay all that money at the holidays, but Clementine is part of our family and she was in pain, so into the emergency fund I went.
Our sweet little dog is doing much better and I’ve started rebuilding the emergency fund, but expenses always seem to be a one two punch and yesterday punch number two came my way.
I got up early to run some last minute errands before Christmas and my car is having some kind of weird car convulsion. I’ve tried everything I know, which is very limited, and still it won’t work. Now my car sits in pieces in the garage while my sister’s boyfriend tries to figure out what is wrong with it without it costing me a fortune.
I’m grateful that I learned to save money for emergencies but even more grateful that I have people in my life who will help me, even though they have their own list of things to do this close to Christmas.