Setbacks

I had other ideas for what I'd write today... making our pantry work for us , an awesome Minestrone soup I put together, making tequeños with the kids... unfortunately we had a major fiscal setback.

It was getting late Wednesday night when hubby called to say his car wouldn't start.  Out with the guys, he tried to jump the car with the help of a friend - to no avail.  He took a ride home from one of the guys.  In the morning, my mom kindly and generously helped us stay true to our fiscal fast by meeting us to have the car towed with her AAA membership - she has four tows per year and can use them for other people so long as she presents her AAA card in person.

However, we still had to replace the car battery to the tune of $200 and now face repairs that will cost up to $1000.  I felt extremely discouraged - all this hard work to stop spending, and the car breaks down?  What a cruel turn of events... as soon as I felt the "Why me?" creep up, I snapped out of it and said "LIFE HAPPENS."  This unfortunate event epitomizes our purpose for starting the fast in the first place.  We want to grab our finances by the horns and take control because life happens, and life costs money when it happens.  Unfortunately, with hubby's car in the shop all day, I also had to pick him up from work and bring him to the dealership.  My careful calculation of mileage to drive and gas left in my tank no longer mattered.  (I had actually used the Maps app to plan every distance I would need to drive in the following three days - pick up Grandpa, work out with Mom, etc. - and compared it to my "range" according to my dashboard.)  Letting out an enormous sigh, I put $15.00 in the tank to cover the unanticipated driving.  Bizarrely, it felt like a sin.

What we've learned from this event is not to call it quits just because things didn't go as planned.  We felt so disheartened, it would've been easy to say, "Forget this - we tried really hard and still had to spend money."  Much like slipping on a diet, we could've said, "I ate a handful of chips, so I've already failed and may as well eat the whole bag."  That thinking would've further derailed us.  In reality, the money we saved in the first week of the fast will soften the blow of the car repairs.  And the attitude shift we have experienced about how we spend and how we waste will have long term effects on our financial well being.