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What’s life without a few surprises here and there? We already heard Karisa share about the surprise letter that prompted her to start her debt payoff journey. In this episode, she shares about an unexpectedly large emergency room bill that threw her off track.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- How she was doing before the unexpected expense
- How she planned to pay off the hospital bill
- Why she decided to take a break from her plan
Karisa said she was only at the emergency room for a little over an hour, but the bill came out to $4,500. Yikes!
– Chi-En and the Goodbudget Team
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Show Notes:
- Learn how to create Annual Envelopes
- Reflection question: What are some “surprises” you’re planning for? Not planning for? This is important for those of us who don’t have debt and those who do have debt — it helps us avoid getting into debt — or further into debt. Comment below and let us know.
Music Credit: “And So Then” by Lee Rosevere is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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2 thoughts on “An Unwelcome Surprise”
I cycle to and from work, so something I often think about is needing to save up a bit for bike maintenance or maybe new parts if I got in an accident. But after hearing Karisa’s story now I realize I didn’t consider what I might have to pay for my own… bodily maintenance, if there was an accident. Maybe I’ll have to start thinking about that now.
In Goodbudget, all of my envelopes that aren’t for fixed expenses have built-in buffers for unexpected expenses. I always try to budget for more than what I just think I’ll spend. The beginning of each year is extra exciting for me because I always have leftover money in my annual envelopes that I budgeted for just in case but didn’t have to spend, and so it’s like a little bonus that I get to reallocate!
I also have one specific envelope for car maintenance and a large emergency envelope that I’ve set aside for much vaguer purposes. I find it easier and it makes more sense for me to just set aside one large lump of money in case anything unexpected comes up instead of have smaller separate envelopes for specific types of emergencies, especially since I already have the built-in buffer in all my other envelopes. Luckily, I haven’t had to touch my emergency envelope yet!