Monday, August 03, 2009

Dipping Into Savings

Boy. You'd think that I'd be over this by now.

Regret, I mean. The kind you feel (or I do, at least) when we complete a month in which we had to dip into savings. The kind you feel when you see your monthly cash flow finish in the red.

That was July for us. Thanks to an $1,850 backyard fence replacement, our liquid-savings funds took a thousand-dollar dump.

At the end of June, our savings progress looked like so:



Then, at the end of July:



Bleh. I'm a guy who likes to "always move forward." When I finish a month in the red ... well, unless you're the government, that ain't "forward." To me, it feels like wholesale failure. This, even though such things are the reason we build up savings!

I'm not sure why, but this $1k drop in savings sure seems to feel worse than the $6k expense when we paid cash to replace our central A/C system.

I'll say this, though: Not having to look into my neighbor's forest backyard while I'm grilling ... or mowing ... or just sitting on the patio ... is awfully nice!

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— Posted by Michael @ 8:04 AM








3 Comments:
 

Hey, I'm right there with you. Looks like we will have to dip into our kids ESA's to make their college tuition payment this fall. Of course, that's what we saved for, but so far we've been able to cashflow their community college expenses. Not this time.
Does it seem like somehow life has just gotten more expensive this year? And the Bush tax cuts haven't even expired yet!

Susan in San Antonio

Anonymous Anonymous
, at 11:15 AM, August 03, 2009  
 

Just see it as what it is: a temporary setback. Perhaps you can cut back somewhere, work extra hours, etc. to replace the $1000. I had extra expenses this year too, but the rule in our house is that we NEVER DECREASE OUR SAVINGS. So I taught summer school, and we did not go on vacation. I also stained the deck myself...not my favorite thing, but the labor was cheap.:-))
E.F.

Anonymous Anonymous
, at 11:01 PM, August 03, 2009  
 

The same thing has happened to us as a result of needing to replace our central AC this month. Now, my wife and I are arguing about how I paid for it. I dipped into savings and she is insisting I should have put it on the credit card and left savings alone. However, I am convinced that this is the very way most people get in trouble on their credit cards. Now, instead of paying interest we are forced to cut back elsewhere to try to rebuild our savings - which isn't really a bad thing is it?

Anonymous Anonymous
, at 8:40 AM, August 05, 2009  
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