Tyres cost a motzah!
My husband has just informed me that two front tyres for his 4×4 vehicle, plus repair/replacement of something called `cv boots’, is going to cost about $500!!! Yikes! Luckily, we do have a billpaying account but it is pretty low already this month and I also have annual car registration due! Something has to give … not sure whether I’ll be able to cover all bills this month without breaking into the emergency fund (at least for a while) but if so, that’s what it’s there for. The other alternative is to cut into debt repayments (but in my mind, this isn’t really an option :).
It’s taken a lot of effort to make our usual $500 debt repayment this week because I only did one shift at work (not my usual two). But we just had a quiet weekend at home to allow us to use our fun money towards debt. This is one reason I maintain a pretty substantial $150 fun/miscellaneous section in my weekly budget - it helps sometimes when other parts of the budget fall shorter than I’d like.
As for money generally, I am really trying hard to stay focused on my goals for this year and not worry too much about what will happen next year. I already know my goals for 2009: I really want to boost our EF substantially, and begin our home deposit savings. I’d also like to start contributing a small amount to a managed fund, with the goal of slowly increasing the monthly contributions over time. My husband and I both also plan to begin salary sacrificing a bit extra into our retirement funds. And I intend to get our wills sorted and invest in some life insurance for me.
All this will mean our lifestyle won’t change much when I start working, but it will be very exciting to move forward anyway. But for now, I must just focus on this last debt!!
