Day 11: "Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect place."

A frickin' can opener. I'm going to go spend money tonight on a frickin' can opener because mine is broken. Normally not an emergency purchase, but I'm having friends over for dinner tonight and the pot of turkey & black bean chili that is supposed to be simmering all day on my stove is not assembled yet for want of a cutting edge, a couple of gears, a hinge and two handles. "The best laid plans" and all that, I suppose. Up until the failure of that simple machine I had things lined up neatly for a zero cost and fun evening.

I'm sure the night is not totally ruined, I can still get the chili together after work, and technically a can opener is a "necessary" purchase, so the fast is preserved, but it got me thinking about the need for an emergency fund. Having a can opener break is a relatively small mechanical failure to overcome. Losing the transmission in my Xterra is something altogether more serious, and one I'm not at all prepared for right now. One of the financial gurus that was recommended to me, Dave Ramsey, advocates a $1000 emergency fund and I think that's a good round number to start with. Assembling that kind of reserve cash in the middle of extracting oneself from debt is a delicate undertaking, though. The dilemma for me is deciding how much is appropriate to set aside for the emergency fund when that money would obviously need to be withheld from making a payment on something already in arrears. I'm going to have to do some thinking on that one.

I overheard a conversation once in which one participant was giving another advice. His theory was that you should treat a savings account as just another bill that needs to be paid every month. Whether the amount of the "bill" is $20 or $200, it gets paid in its own time, just like all the others. I always liked that idea and as I am getting back to a regular and responsible track of making payments on time, and in full, I'm going to work that in. From what I've read so far and my own introspection on the matter, I'm learning that what mindset you put yourself in is just as important as the dollars and cents part of it.

The fact is, if something catastrophic were to happen right now I'd be up shit creek without a boat. I've just started clawing my way out of the hole I'm in and any significant unplanned expenses would send me tumbling right back down to where I started from...or even lower. Facing up to the reality of this situation is frightening at times, but I can't let fear be a deterrent or an excuse. There is simply far too much at stake for that nonsense.