Do you feel bad when you take out of your rainy day accnt? Cause I do.

[smokey0066]

Well.... My car is about to die so I'm taking it in for diagnostic/repair with the assumption it'll be a big repair bill where I'll most likely have to pull the cash from my rainy day account to cover the bill. So this post is half venting and half question.

Anyways I know thats what its there for is if something comes up but I've been thinking about how much I will have to take out of there to get my car fixed so I can continue to work. Funny thing is when I buy my new toys I probably only think twice and pull the trigger. For this repair bill I've been thinking about it all day and then how I can repay myself ASAP to keep the money there. haha i'm so bad with money.

[momof1in150]

Isn't that the purpose of the rainy day account. Better then grabbing the credit card to pay the bill. Just be good about replacing the money and be proud that you have the discipline to save and not use the card.

[smokey0066]

Well to be honest with you I will still be using my card so I can get the points but it will be paid off in full at the end of the month via rainy day account.

Yes I know thats why its there; maybe I just need to vent beause things were going so well and now I hit a speed bump.

[Ima saver]

I try my hardest to find another way without pulling the money out of my savings account. I usually charge it too, then find some way to pay back the charge card within the month.
I have a big car repair bill coming up from my dh's accident.

[humandraydel]

Have you considered tightening the old budget belt a bit for 3-6 months? You could probably save a decent amount of the repair bill that way. 6 months from now you wouldn't even remember the pain of withdrawing from your emergency fund.

[Ima saver]

I can usually save up enough to pay the repair bill in a month.

[Daylily]

I agree that it is difficult to pull money out of the emergency fund. However, you need to start treating the emergency fund as though it were not part of your savings. Do not include it in the totals for your saving. Think of it as already spent. It has helped me to differentiate between money that is set aside for emergencies and money that I am truly not going to spend until I retire or lose a job.

[ajknox]

I think it is always tough spending money but i agree that you should probably differentiate emergency fund as a savings account since its primary purpose is for emergencies. Thats what I have been doing is saving $20 bucks here and there and next thing you know I have about $250 in this account which i want to use for my car tires.

[disneysteve]

I agree with ajknox that it is always difficult spending a large sum of money.

Regarding the EF, though, I handle mine differently than most people it seems. I don't look at it as a static account under lock and key. I have money going in and out of the account regularly. As long as I keep the balance around a certain level, I know we're okay if anything happens. Occasionally, I tap the EF to smooth cashflow and then replace the money as soon as I get paid.

That refers to only part of our EF, though. I also have money in a CD and hold some I-bonds that can also be redeemed in a more prolonged period of no income.

[LuxLiving]

I ease my guilt by differentiating a bit differently I guess.

I have a car repair fund and a mini emergency fund and a major emergency (unemployment/disability) fund. To me, car repairs are not an emergency nor are they unforseeable. If we have cars we are likely to have to repair them, are we not?

On the other hand I do not have a water heater replacement fund. If mine went out I do have a household /electrical/plumbing repair fund, but it's not likely at this point (having just replaced all the windows) to have enough in it to fund the entire water heater replacement cost, but hopefully all my funds will be more fully funded again soon.

A water heater going out is more rare thus more a 'rainy day' event to me. In this instance I'd use all the money in the household repair fund and then take the remaining from the mini emergency fund.

I tend to compartmentalize my dollars a bit more than most. Mainly as it is easy to spend the dollars in a general slush fund on a car repair bill and then the taxes are due and so is the insurance and all my 'slush' is gone. To me, if they are more compartmentalized then I can see that the insurance fund is a bit short and the bill is coming up w/an increased rate and can adjust a bit even if the car clunks out in the same week.

[Bookie]

I, too, find it difficult to spend money that I come to think of as "saved."

My solution works with three savings accounts. I have one account for paying the annual and semi-annual bills I budget for over the course of the year. Anticipated expenses such as tires would be drawn from that account.

I have a second account that serves as an emergency fund for unexpected costs that can't be met out of current income. I like to keep the balance between $1,200 and $1,500.

Finally, I keep my primary savings in an internet bank account. Immediate access isn't a concern, but interest income is. Touching these funds would be painful.

Today at lunch a friend asked me why I was saving money in retirement. Why didn't I spend it having fun? I don't think she really gets the idea. Saving can be as addictive as spending.

[rob62521]

I also have problems spending the saved money. The statement looks so nice and I hate to deduct. But then I have to realize we have to pay bills. We are also fixing up our house a small project at a time. We figure that's smart in case we would need to sell it. So many of the houses in our subdivision go on the market and sit because people think they are worth big money because the city built a new golf course near us, but the fixtures and colors are from the 1970s when the homes were built.

[smokey0066]

Well the deed is done. I spent nearly $2k on my car for a repair and some additional work since it was in the shop. Figured I wouldn't have to come back for another year or two until the next unfortunate event since the remainder of the maintenance is up to date.

I keep my account somewhat like DisneySteve where I try to maintain a certain level of funds in the account and I use it to smooth out anything that comes up.

I would disagree with a car repair not being an emergency. Where I live, without a car I would essentially be stranded at home, thus no work, no pay check and I would not be typing this. There is zero mass transit that comes by my home. It is unfortunate because if it were available I would use it.

Yes repairs come up but I also devote alot of time and money on keeping maintenance up to date on all of our familys cars with the hopes of reducing any of these occurances. I do not mind spending money for maintenance but when something out of the ordinary breaks and costs a fortune (2k is alot to me) to fix it bugs me.

thanks for all the tips guys. I think I might open another account for car reapirs and start depositing a set amount in there each paycheck for anything in the future like this.

[LuxLiving]

Smokey, it's not an emergency in my book as it is not unexpected. We KNOW we will have car repairs. An emergency (to me) is something that cannot be predicted or is seen as such a rare event that the probabilities lie in our favor. I agree that good reliable transportation is a vital necessity, more so in some areas than others where mass transit is available. We'd be lost w/o Hubster's vehicle to transport him back and forth, but I can expect a certain amount of maintenance and repairs and can thus plan and save ahead for them. Most people who are living paycheck to paycheck and spending down to zero each month like to call a car repair an emergency, to that I say, NO, you can KNOW for sure that most mechanical things REQUIRE upkeep and repair. And thusly, not saving ahead for it is just sticking your head in the sand.

It's when people head out each weekend for partying and spend (Hubster's coworkers) hundreds of dollars blowing it on booze, movies, dinners out, mall culling, an EXTRA scooter for an able bodied unemployed teen, etc., and then show up on Monday w/a blown transmission and cry 'Emergency'. Uh, perhaps they should of thought of that BEFORE they blew all their cash this weekend and the last six weekends before that as well. Just my take on it, YMMV. We call these expected but unsaved for items 'budget busters'. I try to limit mine severely!

[Ima saver]

I do have a seperate account for paying things like my property taxes , house and car insurances, but everything else, I take out of regular savings. so, yes, I do hate to touch it. I guess I should have a separate savings acccount for emergencies only. But my savings are in a bank that pays 5.25% but you have to have $50,000 to get that rate and that is too much to have in an emergency account.

[Tree0164]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

I have a car repair fund and a mini emergency fund and a major emergency (unemployment/disability) fund. .

This is what we have as well. My mini emergency fund is more household repairs etc.

I know I will have to dip into the car repair fund this week since my car didnt pass the annual inspection.


I do feel guility when I need to spend any of my rainy day funds. It is better than using a credit card Do you want your kids to have fund this summer without breaking the bank!