Don, that sucks, for sure. I have repaired a washing machine before...I'll never do that again!
I used to get stressed about 'emergency' stuff around the house popping up (water heater, dish washer, kitchen remodel, roof, etc) at the worst possible financial time, but I had a Personal Finance professor (Gene Henssler, for those around here who know him) who told the class that a house has about a 3% average annual maintenance cost (percentage of house value, not my income, so much more % of income). So, I started saving that amount every month about a decade ago. Now I don't stress about such things.
I'm not trying to be a punk (I'm naturally that way); I'm trying to help you find ways of dealing with these inevitable situations with much less stress. I have never been able to find any reference to the 3%, or any percent, but it more than covers the smaller stuff. What he didn't say was the level of detail of what that should cover. For instance, should it cover trash service?, taxes?, drill press??? I don't use it that way...those are additional expenses, for now.
Truth...I dig into the house savings fund from time to time to use it for non-essential things, such as axles, tires, wheels, full hydro, etc.
I do write IOU chits so I can replace the money...hopefully before the next big thing happens to the house.
That wise Henssler dude didn't know everything...he told the class the most disposable income we would have was at that time (I was 21-ish making $8/hour, living at home, but I had a car note and a lot of drinking/partying going on); I have much more disposable income now than then, as a percentage and of course as a dollar amount.
Topic: Morning Coffee (Read 179568 times)
