In Case of Emergency

We have an emergency fund.  It serves exactly that purpose.  We turn to our emergency fund whenever we have a financial burden we have not planned.  Sometimes there isn't enough in the car maintenance budget for a big repair. We turn to our emergency fund. Our rental may need more work than we have expected.  We turn to our emergency fund. Unplanned medical bills may creep in to our lives. The emergency fund is there for us.

It doesn't just provide cash if needed.  It provides peace.  It provides security.  We always know that we have that extra little bit to fall back on.  When we do, our number one priority changes to building it back up. Since creating the emergency fund we have never needed to borrow more money.  We have never regretted cutting up those credit cards.  We have never had to ask for financial help.  Now that we have paid off much of our debt, many emergencies can even be cash flowed. 

An emergency can feel like a mountain that was thrown in your path. You don't have to turn to mom and dad.  You don't need to use a credit card. Going into more debt causes an emergency within an emergency. Create your emergency fund as quickly as possible so that your next emergency is merely a bump in the road.

Where Do You Call Home?

We visited one of the places we call home this weekend. It is in the middle of the desert. It is a dry, brown, ugly place.  Why is it home?  For Albert, it is the place he grew from a boy to a man. It was his only home on earth for 26 years.  It was only my physical home for 2 years, but it was home. It was our first home together. It was the home where we built the beginning of our marriage.  It was the home of our first shared church family. It was the home where our miss Harli Grayce made us three. It was the home where we decided to change our family tree. It will always be our home. 

We get to visit our Ridgecrest home twice a year.  How can we do this while pinching pennies?  The trip is not a surprise. It is not an emergency. We simply add it to our budget twice a year.  In the early stages of our debt snowball it would take a few months of piling cash before taking a trip. We are now in a place where we can cash flow a trip with one paycheck. I mean real CASH. I write a check to ourselves after we have budgeted the trip into our allocated spending. We put the cash in an envelope before we leave.  We never touch plastic. We never worry about money during our trip. More importantly, we never worry about it when we get home. 

The only thing that follows us home are the memories. Watching our daughter play with her cousins. Singing with our church family.  Feeling the arms of our family around us. Hearing the joyful laughter of Mama Krabbe.  Playing cards with our dearest friends.  Visiting home should never be a burden.