More Lessons Learned

In October, I also learned first-hand about Murphy's Law. As Dave Ramsey says, the minute you save up the emergency fund money, then something unexpected is going to happen and you are going to have to spend that money and start saving all over again. Well that is exactly what happened to me last month. I had just finished saving the $1,000 baby emergency fund (step 1 in Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover), when my horse went lame. I tried to diagnose it myself, but after 6 weeks of unsuccessful attempts, I had to call the vet in. We discovered that he has arthritis in his right hand leg, but that discovery cost me $800. No, that isn't a typo. It cost me $800. So now I am busy refunding my baby emergency fund for that next unexpected expense. The silver lining, however, is that because of my baby emergency fund, I was able to pay cash for the vet visit and not use my credit card and increase my debt. Thank goodness for Dave Ramsey and his advice about always having a baby emergency fund!