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Car troubles and emergency fund

March 22nd, 2016 at 12:00 am

I'm back after a crazy couple of weeks.

The good news: My emergency fund topped $1,000. I've been adding $100/month to it for a while, but every time it got up to $500+, something would inevitably happen to drag it back down. It's now $1,031, and I have no intent of dipping into it. Next goal: $2,000 by the end of the year!

I'm keeping my hands off of it, despite the bad news I got about my car. It's a 2005 with 135,000 miles. I put a bit of money into it last year, hoping that it would keep going for a while. I took it in for an oil change last week, and they said that there is a problem with the engine. Not a "die on the side of the road on my way home" type of problem, but very definitely a "it's going to die sooner rather than later so start planning" type of a problem. A new engine would be way too expensive for such an old car, so we'll need to start planning for a new one.

My hope is that we can keep it at least through the end of the summer, and preferably through the end of the year when I get my bonus from work. Hubby normally drives this car and he works from home, so he puts on low mileage and all local driving. Fingers crossed.

Downside is that DS will be getting his permit in November. DD learned to drive on this car, and I hate the thought of DS practicing on a brand-spanking new one. It's nerve-wracking enough to watch them learn in a junker!

And by the way, does anyone ever go in for "just an oil change" and NOT come out with a big bill?

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Car troubles and emergency fund”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    March 22nd, 2016 at 12:29 am 1458606584
    1458606584

    It does seem there are add ons more often than not doesn't it when it comes to cars. I think it can depend on where you go. Congrats on keeping $1K in your EF. I hope it lasts long enough to get to $2K.

  2. livingalmostlarge Says:
    March 22nd, 2016 at 04:39 am 1458621580
    1458621580

    Yes usually not much more than oil change. But as cars get older you can drive it and just tell.

  3. Jenn Says:
    March 22nd, 2016 at 10:46 am 1458643565
    1458643565

    You never know - the car may last a good long while. But moments like that are good reminders that you should be planning for the car replacement now so you don't incur any debt when the time does arrive to buy something new-to-you.

  4. PatientSaver Says:
    March 22nd, 2016 at 05:40 pm 1458668428
    1458668428

    Yeah, i agree with jenn that while the news wasn't good, at least you got a heads up so you can start budgeting for a new vehicle. Depending on the kind of car you have, 135K may or may not be a whole lot of mileage.

    Once you have built up your emergency fund, you will have a greater buffer against the inevitable unexpected expenses.

  5. ThriftoRama Says:
    March 23rd, 2016 at 01:46 pm 1458740769
    1458740769

    2005 doesn't seem like that old of a car! Our 1997 Honda Civic is still going with 250k miles. I'm going to have to shoot it to kill it.

  6. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    March 24th, 2016 at 12:12 am 1458778326
    1458778326

    That isn't good news - hope you are able to keep it going as long as you need to.

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