Just when you start saving...

Well, it's week 2 of No-Spend January and Murphy happened.  For those of you who are familiar with Dave Ramsey (and if you aren't go here to learn more), you know what I'm talking about.  Murphy is in reference to Murphy's Law which states "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".  Dave says to have an emergency fund for when "Murphy" does show up....because he WILL show up.  If you have money saved back for it, then it's not as much of an emergency when Murphy does come a knockin'.  You just pay the bill and get on with your life stress-free (not really, but you get the point).

So, remember No-Spend January?  Well, Murphy showed up at my house today actually.  I had been anticipating his arrival since Saturday when my bubble bath took way longer than normal to fill up.  (Have I ever told you I LOVE bubble baths?)  Anyways, I noticed a decrease in water pressure.  Hubby did some its-over-my-head-so-I'll-spare-you-the-details mechanical guy stuff to come to the conclusion that the gauge on our pressure tank was bad.  So there went $5.99 plus tax for the gauge. (And no, I'm not freaking out about a $6 gauge..keep reading....)  He installed the gauge and concluded that we didn't have as much as pressure as normal.  (Which I already knew from my bubble bath...but now it was "official")  So we waited another couple of days trying to delay the obvious, I think.  We called a drilling company that some relatives recommended, left two messages, and received no reply (and still haven't).  So that ate up 2 more days of waiting.  Yesterday we finally called a different drilling company and got an actual person (that sold us on them immediately!) and he suggested that our well pump head was cracked and the whole pump needed replaced.  The estimate he gave us is $1300-1700.  They are currently here doing their thing and we are not-so-eagerly awaiting The Bill. 

Luckily we have the money set aside.  If we hadn't, we would have either had to pay for it with our home equity account, which would take a while to pay off with the interest, or we could have had to put it on the credit card.  Neither of those options would have been good....especially since we are consumer-debt free at the moment.  But this whole experience has really made me realize just how important it is to have that fully funded emergency fund.  (Which, btw, Dave recommends 3-6 months living expenses.)  Yeah, I kind of freak every time I hear that too.  But it's something I really want to strive for.  My husband is the only earner in our family and if he would happen to get hurt (which could easily happen in his line of work...auto mechanics), it could throw our finances into a tailspin and it would get real ugly, real fast. 

So hopefully in a few hours, we'll be $1700 poorer, but we'll have more water pressure than we've had for a week.  And I'm sure I'm gonna need a nice hot bubbly bath.  And a glass of wine. 
And a cookie.  Or two.

Good ole' Murph.