Can you cover an unexpected $400 expense?

[Svnla]

That wasn't much for clarification... I mean, I travel for business too it's just that the bastards make me use the company credit card and not my own...

Get a new job with new more liberal company? Hehehehe.

I use my 2% cash back card for "non-personal expenses" and then my own personal expenses and 2% cash back deposit into my personal checking account each and every month. Just like clock work.

 

[BoomerD]

I CAN...but I may not want to...

I just got hit with a surprise expense...looks like the brake booster in my motorhome took a crap. (brakes work, but pedal doesn't come back up by itself)
My preferred shop gave an over-the-phone estimate of $1400-$1600...PLUS I have to have it towed there...which, depending on what my roadside assistance says, could be another $1000-$1200...

BUT, there's a decent shop MUCH closer, owned by a member of the local Elks RV club...his over-the-phone estimate was around $600...but the rig will still have to be towed there...and that will be somewhere around $350-$500. (again, depends on the roadside assistance) If I have the local shop do the work, I'll probably have him change out the master cylinder while he's got it all out of the rig.
I'm NOT happy about the expense...but, whacha gonna do? (keep in mind, I'm retired, on a fixed income, and am NOT one of the ATOT millionaires...) This will have to come out of our summer RV budget...and will mean a few trips closer to home instead of 1-2 longer trips.

 

[highland145]

And in just 20 short years of minimum payments it’ll be all yours!

lol back in the day, Sears did this. Charge $1500 and have a $15 minimum payment...for ever.

If you want to have a good laugh, check out Easyhome. You can "rent to own" pretty much anything from living room lamps to video game consoles. They end up costing you like 10x what they would cost to buy outright. It's a way for people who don't have a lot of money to dig themselves in a deeper hole.

You canucks are behind the times. Rent to own has been a thing for years. I see it as people that want stuff NOW instead of saving the $$ for a few months.

 

[allisolm]

Just got my unexpected expense. Husband announced that the riding mower had gone belly up and was beyond his repair capabilities. So... $1400 later, Happy Father's Day, Sweetheart! Will wait for the credit card statement then pay it off in full, as usual. Thankfully, I've never had to pay the credit card companies any interest.

 

[sdifox]

Just got my unexpected expense. Husband announced that the riding mower had gone belly up and was beyond his repair capabilities. So... $1400 later, Happy Father's Day, Sweetheart! Will wait for the credit card statement then pay it off in full, as usual. Thankfully, I've never had to pay the credit card companies any interest.

Should have just got him a pair of garden shears and a ruler :awe:

 

[lxskllr]

I CAN...but I may not want to...

I just got hit with a surprise expense...looks like the brake booster in my motorhome took a crap. (brakes work, but pedal doesn't come back up by itself)

You can get some bungee cords from harborfreight for a couple dollars. I have a 20% off coupon if you want it :^P

 

[TeeJay1952]

Should have just got him a pair of garden shears and a ruler :awe:

If you can get him to go from rider to shears he already has a Ruler!

 

[sdifox]

If you can get him to go from rider to shears he already has a Ruler!

Burn!

 

[PlanetJosh]

It's like an EPeen thread and I'm falling for it. Does a joint mutual fund owned by me and my father count? If so then the 40k is there and I (and dad) can go on living as normal. Takes about 3 days or so for the selling of the shares to settle and get into a checking account.

 

[BoomerD]

You can get some bungee cords from harborfreight for a couple dollars. I have a 20% off coupon if you want it :^P

That’s sheer fucking genyus!
Turned out to just be a sticky brake linkage...some lubrication and minor adjustments and good as new...well...for a 15 year old rig. Shop charged me less than $100.

 

[pcgeek11]

I just got popped for $1064.00 for a new A/C Condenser Drier assembly and both high and low pressure lines for my truck A/C System. But it's all good now with super cold A/C which is a must in the South Carolina coastal region.

Hated writing the check but as said earlier what you gonna do...

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually I think my car's A/C may not be working as well as it should, but I'm kinda scared of how much it would cost to fix that lol. Next time I have to bring it to the shop for another reason I might have them check it just to see if it's nothing too bad. It still blows cold air it just does not seem to be as cold as it should.

 

[lxskllr]

I have to add ac fluid every other day or so.

You're probably wondering what ac fluid is. I have to pour water over the ac unit, and it'll work for a couple days after. I discovered that after driving through a deep puddle, and the ac started.

 

[JulesMaximus]

$400? Zero problem. I might drop $400 on lunch with friends occasionally.

Honestly, I could handle a $40,000 expense without having to take out a loan or use credit in any way but I can’t think of any reason why I would need to quite frankly.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Twice in the last 12 months I have covered family members 3000ish expenses who likely would have had trouble with a 400 expense.

Now, my reserves are low, and if I had to cover anything significant, I would need to cash out some assets

 

[madoka]

Honestly, I could handle a $40,000 expense without having to take out a loan or use credit in any way but I can’t think of any reason why I would need to quite frankly.

Don't tell me you've never run across a killer deal on 40,000 Lego heads.

 

[brianmanahan]

Don't tell me you've never run across a killer deal on 40,000 Lego heads.

 

[sdifox]

What else are you going to fill your gt-r with?

 

[Red Squirrel]

$400? Zero problem. I might drop $400 on lunch with friends occasionally.

Honestly, I could handle a $40,000 expense without having to take out a loan or use credit in any way but I can’t think of any reason why I would need to quite frankly.

I don't think I've ever had 40k in actual cash. The closest I've ever been to that is when I still lived at my parents and was saving up for a house. I think I had close to 20k in the bank. When I bought my house and started to spend it on house stuff I told myself it will probably be the last time I see such a high balance in my bank account. I was not wrong.

 

[ponyo]

I don't think I've ever had 40k in actual cash. The closest I've ever been to that is when I still lived at my parents and was saving up for a house. I think I had close to 20k in the bank. When I bought my house and started to spend it on house stuff I told myself it will probably be the last time I see such a high balance in my bank account. I was not wrong.

Everything you have you probably earned. That's the hard way. The easy way is through marriage or inheritance. You marry someone rich and you suddenly have lot of money. Or your parents die and you inherit their money, house, and investments.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Ugh, I got my unexpected >$400 unexpected Expense. One of the UPS units in my house went arse up. New Eaton unit probably going to run about $5-600.

That's the thing about it for me, it's not about covering unexpected expenses, it's about covering unexpected expenses all the time. I'd say I'd probably get one once a month, and once every other month at most. Funeral, Old Car (it's debatable if it's really unexpected if you're just waiting for something to break), dishwasher, etc. Always try to keep a surplus around because just when I think I just about finished out a month, something will pop up That's life though> I'm fortunate enough that none of that stuff has ever put me *truly* in the danger zone. I certainly remember some times in college though that had me eating that ramen 3x a day for a while.

 

[Kaido]

I certainly remember some times in college though that had me eating that ramen 3x a day for a while.

I still can't eat instant ramen because of that. You can pry my Instant Pot out of my cold, dead hands

 

[Kaido]

When I bought my house and started to spend it on house stuff I told myself it will probably be the last time I see such a high balance in my bank account. I was not wrong.

It's amazing how quickly little stuff adds up too. Buy a desktop PC, sweet! Well, now you need a desk. And you need a chair for the desk. And a trashcan to go with it. What about your mail? Better get an AIO so you can scan PDF's of what you want to keep, and then get a shredder so you're not throwing away your personal information. And now you need a small shelf for your printer because it won't fit on your desk.

It's nice when you reach a solid foundation for whatever particular thing you're working on, but when you have a house, you'll want a nice PC setup for surfing & gaming, and a nice TV setup to relax with when you get home, house maintenance stuff so your place stays clean, a lawncare toolkit, a nice kitchen setup, and on & on & on it goes. You can easily nickel & dime yourself to death!

 

[sdifox]

Ugh, I got my unexpected >$400 unexpected Expense. One of the UPS units in my house went arse up. New Eaton unit probably going to run about $5-600.

That's the thing about it for me, it's not about covering unexpected expenses, it's about covering unexpected expenses all the time. I'd say I'd probably get one once a month, and once every other month at most. Funeral, Old Car (it's debatable if it's really unexpected if you're just waiting for something to break), dishwasher, etc. Always try to keep a surplus around because just when I think I just about finished out a month, something will pop up That's life though> I'm fortunate enough that none of that stuff has ever put me *truly* in the danger zone. I certainly remember some times in college though that had me eating that ramen 3x a day for a while.

Should just need new batteries no?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Should just need new batteries no?

Nope, the charger circuit gave out and so the unit went into internal fault mode. Issues like that, even if you're savvy enough to fix it, won't resolve until an Eaton technician recertifies it and reinitializes it. Not worth the cost at its age vs. replacing it.