A Sad Wheel
The other day I was walking around campus, and saw a lone bicycle wheel. The metal sat flat against the concrete, locked on a bike rack – the rest of the frame was gone. The problem was that this (former) bike owner only locked the front wheel – not the frame – to the rack. Now, they were likely out $100-200. Over a large enough period of time, you’re going to slip up. You’re human. Humans make mistakes. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the self-compassion to get over these events. At times, I’ve beaten myself up over the woulda coulda shouldas. But at the heart of this article is a different question: Are you budgeting for mistakes?
What A Parking Spot
When I was an undergraduate student in college, I was driving my ex-girlfriend’s car to one of my favorite unhealthy chain restaurants: IHOP. As I pulled into the parking lot, I confidently turned into an open space. Just when I was about to turn the wheel back to center, I scraped the entire side of the neighboring car. Suddenly, I was unprepared and only had a few hundred dollars in my bank account. I panicked. What could I do? I was unprepared. I trip, fall, drop, and spill frequently. I know I’m accident prone. By admitting that I make mistakes and beginning to budget for such events, I’m getting ahead of it. Instead of being a reactionary mess, I’m looking to become preventative and protective. By choosing the latter route, it’s an admission of my humanity. But up until now, I haven’t wanted to partition a group of funds to protect against this unfortunate scenario.
We Are Fallible
Whether you call it a rainy day or emergency fund, saving a portion of your income for poorer times is a must. Paying off your debt, investing, and balancing your budget are all great steps to a healthy financial life, but unless you are budgeting for mistakes, you’re not going to be prepared or realistic. It’s time for you to create an emergency, mistake fund, and here are three terrific resources/websites to do just that:
What is the purpose of an emergency fund?
Great article Sam. I used to never budget for the mistake. Only living from check to check can be that way. I don’t do that anymore. Since we are all accident-prone and all make mistakes, we should always be prepared.
Thanks so much for the encouragement. 🙂 Building my mistake fund now!
I’m also accident prone. I suffered a similar incident, I also recently ripped a beautiful floor length gown at a black tie wedding. The money has to come from somewhere.
B&B,
Ouch!! Sounds like an expensive accident. That’s a perfect example.
Hope you had your emergency fund!
Sam
The fact of the matter is, $hit happens all the time in life, moreso when we least expect it. The best thing is being aware of that simple fact and preparing accordingly. Is a 1000 bucks a good enough place to start? definitely, it might not be much but it makes one sleep better at night.
Simon,
Absolute agreement. $1,000 is a great place to start saving and feel a bit more safe about funding accidents.
Thanks for the comment.
Sam
Yeah, Murphy’s law. Things are always going wrong and you have to be able to cope with it. $1000 is a good place to start when you’re young, but as you get older, you’ll need much more. I think at least $10,000 when you have a house and family.
Bad things happen. It’s a mistake to skip planning for it.
Great idea to plan and budget for mistakes. Do you have a “mistake saving bucket” set up or do you just consider your mistake fund as part of your emergency fund?
Brent,
Great question! My goal is to establish an emergency fund that will cover most of my casual accidents. It wasn’t too long ago that I spilled a full glass of milk into my laptop keyboard. Let me tell you, having a little emergency fund saved up was a lifesaver. 🙂
The key is to make something that will make sense and work for you. Everyone is a little different. If you need an accident bucket, call it that!
All the best,
Sam