Emergency funds, they exist for a reason

[JoeP]

We've always had an emergency fund, and put a small amount of our salary into it every pay period. And being a homeowner, we simply know that things wear out and need replacing. In our case, it definitely paid off.

Bad things come in threes, and here are the first two:

Our furnace blower motor died, which means that in our forced air system, none of the cool air was leaving the coils that sit on top of the furnace. That cost us $340 for the repair, paid for from emergency fund.

I went to leave the house and noticed the door to the garage didn't close too well: the little latch thing wouldn't come out to hold the door shut. Worse, another time it wouldn't retract to allow the door to open. That was about $110 for a set of 4 entry knobs. Again, emergency fund.

Funny how I still manage to complain about having to spend money, even when it has already been set aside for exactly this purpose! I guess I should be legitimately complaining if we didn't have the money and racked up debt.

Anyone else find it hard to spend, even when the money is there and earmarked for emergencies?

[disneysteve]

Anyone else find it hard to spend, even when the money is there and earmarked for emergencies?

Definitely. We've talked about this before. And it doesn't just apply to the emergency fund. It holds true for any targeted savings. We're in the midst of college and it kills me to send off the $15,000 check each semester even though we saved for years so that we'd actually have the money to write those checks. Or paying the Visa bill when we get home from vacations. I work hard and save hard so that we can travel, but that still doesn't mean I'm happy to get the $5,000 credit card bill after a trip.

It's much easier to save the money than to spend it.

[kork13]

Definitely. We've talked about this before. And it doesn't just apply to the emergency fund. It holds true for any targeted savings. We're in the midst of college and it kills me to send off the $15,000 check each semester even though we saved for years so that we'd actually have the money to write those checks. Or paying the Visa bill when we get home from vacations. I work hard and save hard so that we can travel, but that still doesn't mean I'm happy to get the $5,000 credit card bill after a trip.

It's much easier to save the money than to spend it.

That all sounds just like me. Different details, same idea. We save aggressively so that we have cash on hand for large purchases/expenses that improve our lives or make life more enjoyable... But actually getting down to it, dropping the coin is tough!

I had to laugh at your last line. Totally the opposite of most people, but 100% accurate for someone with a saver's mindset

[disneysteve]

I had to laugh at your last line. Totally the opposite of most people, but 100% accurate for someone with a saver's mindset

I wrote that very deliberately.

I do believe that mindset is totally behind why some of us are great with money and some can't hold onto it for a moment.

[scfr]

Anyone else find it hard to spend, even when the money is there and earmarked for emergencies?

It would depend on how you'd define "hard."
While I don't enjoy spending on emergency or irregular expenses, I'm also very cognizant that "life happens" so I don't get upset about it unless the expense was avoidable.

In recent years, we've had 2 large irregular expenses:

1. Massive hail storm necessitated lots of home repair including total roof replacement. We had insurance, but also had a deductible. 0% upset on my part because there was nothing I could have done to prevent this loss. This one fell in to the EF category.

2. OTR microwave died and needed to be replaced. This did not fall in the EF category because appliances don't last forever and plans need to be made for eventual replacement. However, I was a bit upset that the microwave failed at the lower end of life expectancy. I had expected it to last another couple of years. I do still question whether there was anything I could have done to extend its life. Given the high cost of the appliance (the house came with a ridiculously expensive one), in hindsight I wish I had purchased an electric kettle to possibly extend the life of the microwave by a year or two.

Any day now our older car is going to die. It is 16 years old and has a KBB of less than $400. Its demise will not come as a surprise. We know it's coming, and we have had the money set aside and have been thinking about purchasing a replacement vehicle for a couple years now. We may buy before the current car dies if we find a screaming deal on a car we love. Or, we may wait for the car to conk out on us and then replace it. At that point we will "need to buy a car because ours died" but that won't be an emergency. And yes, I will take a few deep breaths when I whip out the checkbook and credit card (for the cash-back rewards) to pay for the new car, but I don't think my feelings could be described as upset.

Having said all of this, I do frequently agonize more than I need to about spending on non-essential consumer products such as clothing. Yes, spending money is harder than saving.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Way harder to spend than save.