August Financial Challenge
Within the past couple of weeks, we encountered 2 financial bumps in the road totaling $600. This surely isn’t pocket change, and until tutoring starts up again, we really don’t have a lot of extra money. However, I am going to try to come up with $600 without dipping into our emergency fund or vacation fund. Here’s what happened:
1. New car tires – We weren’t really expecting this one, but when we got the car emissions and inspection done, we were told that new tires were in order pretty soon. We trust our auto mechanic – they have done a great job so far letting us know about upcoming maintenance ahead of time (ie. belt changes, tire changes, etc.). To date, we’ve been able to set the money aside ahead of time and then have it done at the next oil change. Our total bill was a little over $300 (includes our annual inspection and emissions tests). Usually, we just take the money out of our emergency fund and replenish it, but I would like to try to pay this without touching our emergency stash.
2. Car rental for trip to Arizona in November – We’re going to Arizona in November to visit our good friends. The flight is booked and paid for, but we have been discussing renting a minivan and splitting the cost 50/50 with our friends. We plan on visiting Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon – with 2 kids in car seats and 4 adults, getting a larger vehicle to save on gas (as opposed to driving 2 separate vehicles, 1 of which would still need to be rented) seems like a good idea.
My friend called me last week with a great deal on a minivan for the entire week from hotwire.com. Our friends will pick it up and drop it off, and the cost was about $200 cheaper than what we had previously found. I booked it – the total was $295, and I’ll be getting back $15 for using my Discover Card. Our friends will be paying us their half ($140), but they are tight on money right now since they just got back from traveling themselves. They are good for the money, but I want to pay the total amount off without dipping into the vacation fund.
I’ll be keeping track of snowflakes throughout the month. So far, I should be getting $50 from RevResponse, and $25 from my credit union because I signed up for paperless statements. I’ve got some other tricks up my sleeve for this month as well.
Do you have any small financial goals this month? Do you think that I can do it?
I think you can do it! In the greater scheme of things $600.00 isn’t really anything. Though I’m in the same boat with the car tires. Have fun in AZ though it’s absolutly gorgeous down there!!!
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Fennster – Thanks for the encouragement! I agree that it’s not so big in the grand scheme of things, but I really want to see if I can pull this one off
I think you can do. It will take time and attention but snowflakes add up to some pretty big snowballs — as I think most of us found out in childhood!
Do you do any mystery shopping? If not, check out Volition.com which is a free source for all things money-online (and coupon). It’s pretty helpful. Although the money wouldn’t come in time it’s a good alternative source for money in the future.
My financial goal (among a few other goals I mentioned) is to have my husband’s student loans paid down to $750 from its current $1430. By Sept 9th. It’ll be tight (hubby’s on unemployment, I’m on disability) but I think we can do it and it’ll be *so* satisfying!
Have you signed up for an ING account? You get $25 for doing that and you don’t need to put much in at all. Also revolution money exchange. And both give referral bonuses. So if you can get a couple friends in, that would add up quickly.
Hope this helps!
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