Welcome to 31 Days to Organize Your Finances. By the end of the month, my goal is to help you have a detailed financial plan for your family. We’ll talk about cash flow, budgets, debts, and all of the nitty gritty of our finances that might not be fun to talk about, but are so important to discuss. Please refer back to the original post for a complete list of daily assignments.
The last time our 7 year old van was in the shop for an oil change, our mechanic told me that the timing belt and some other components would need to be replaced along with its upcoming 100,000 service. He wanted to alert me because the total for everything would be about $1300.
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, the two of us estimated that it would be about a year before the van rolled 100,000 miles thus giving me 12 months to save for the service.
Every month, we set aside money in our budget to cover our basic car maintenance. If something substantial suddenly happens, we do have an emergency fund to cover it, but now I’ve been given a warning that our van will need some major service in about a year. Therefore, we’ve increased our monthly allotment for car maintenance and by the time the van needs the service, we should have the money.
Thankfully, we were given an alert, but many times there are no warnings when it comes to replacing parts, appliances, or vehicles, so today is your warning.
Today’s assignment: take a household and automobile inventory and plan for any needed replacements.
The goal is to identify the need before something breaks down, so you are not caught off guard without the funds. We want to be proactive by saving the money rather than reactive and have to use a credit card.
Do you have any major household items that will need to be replaced very soon. How will you pay for the item? Let us know in the comments.
Please note, I AM NOT A FINANCIAL PLANNER. This series was written based on my family’s experiences. If you feel you need additional advice, please consult a certified professional.
I love this idea. We have started Dave Ramsey’s program and are following your 31 days of advice too and this tip is a gem! I think our dryer is the next thing that will need replacing, so it will be good to keep tucking a little away at a time to be ready when we need to replace it.
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Hi Becky. Thanks for the comments. Our dryer is 14 years old and last year stopped heating. My husband googled the problem and we learned that the heating element can be replaced. We hired a service guy to come to our house and fix the dryer for $200, far cheaper than a new one. Just an FYI for you when your dryer decides to stop working…but by all means start saving for a replacement, in case it can’t be fixed. 😉