One time my dad made the comment that Matt and I reminded him of Carl and Elle trying to save for their trip to Paradise Falls. We are very good about putting away money, but something always seems to come up and we have to smash the jar.
I know I’ve mentioned our ING accounts more than once. We tuck away a lot of money every month for retirement and college savings, but also for a host of other things including, but not limited to: car-related expenses, insurance premiums, home improvement, Christmas and Loki.
Many months in a row, the money goes in and we just leave it there and let it accumulate. But eventually, we have to smash the jar. This month, the money in our home improvement fund which I had sort of ear-marked for work on Tabby’s room or our master bath (still has the dreaded carpet) went to buying a new fridge. It didn’t cover it all the way and we’ll have to take the balance from the small cushion in our budget. And we haven’t even priced the fix on the floors yet. We also had to smash the car-expense fund. Matt’s car needed new brakes. And we have plate renewals for both as well.
I know it’s not unique to us and I’m realistic enough to know that we’re very lucky to have money to tuck away for these eventualities and I even feel somewhat victorious when we use these funds and our budget doesn’t have to take a hit. But I also do not like seeing two of our most often-used funds almost at $0.00. Ick.