I’ve addressed the Dreaded “B” word many times before. From the basics of budgeting,and to understanding the importance of Giving Every dollar a job, I’ve talked about it in some form.

For most of us, the dreaded “B” word of budgeting shares similar feeling with housekeeping, ironing or quite possibly, finger nails on the chalkboard.

We know saving money is important. We understand that learning strategies on how to improve our budget is crucial. Conceptually, we know living within our means is a necessary part of everyday life, yet we may not always get to it, let alone enjoy it.

Yes, my mantra has come through before, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Whether it’s failing to plan in the food and meal plan department  or just in the every day of life, this Type “Z” personality knows that wisely planning where our dollars go is critical to financial freedom.

I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan and one of the main thing he stresses is having a fully funded emergency fund for things such as, well, accidents.

Do you remember my post, “It doesn’t matter what you think?” and our old hunk ‘o junk? Well, I was so wishing I had been driving that vehicle last night because I was in an accident with all our kids. An accident that could have been incredibly bad and for that my gratitude abounds, yet one that was unfortunately my fault, none the less.

I was turning onto a one way, two lane road (a turn I’ve never made before), and assumed it was a double turn lane like many others downtown. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and the officer assured me I was not the first to do the same thing, but that didn’t make me feel much better.

This was my first accident ever and it happened four days before I am traveling, and I NEED that van.

 Even though it doesn’t look that bad, it runs the entire front, and the underside of the van rubs against the tire. Unfortunately, it can’t be fixed on short notice.

One of the ways we do save money on our car insurance is to have a very high deductible in the slight chance that an accident is our fault. Since neither my husband or I have had accidents, it’s a wise choice long term,  but it’s a lot of money out of our pocket now.  I am just sick at the huge waste, and so frustrated over a situation that could have been avoided, but gratitude stream through when I think how blessed we were to be spared injury.

While I vent to you, I am reminded though of why I embrace the importance and critical nature of developing a fully funded emergency fund. After coming off our year of unemployment, this would have been a disaster. We would not have been prepared for this, but because we know first hand the importance of actually living off our emergency fund during seasons of unemployment, the first things we did after my husband found a job was to build that back up.

Now instead of canceling a fun event that I have been planning with the kids, we have the capability of renting a van for a few days. (Any suggestions for frugal options on this? Must fit LARGE teenage boys).

Again, this hurts to flush money like this, but not only will our emergency fun cover the accident, the entertainment portion of our budget will cover the van. We won’t be able to put that towards other things this summer like originally planned, but it’s all about choices.

If you are struggling with determining a budget that works for you, read through some of my past posts on the subject and download this FREE 20 page budgeting guide by Dave Ramsey. It will give you some hope that it is possible to be financially free and I will be your biggest cheerleader as you do the hard stuff. Yep, it’s  definitely hard stuff, but so worth it in the end.

31days beauty budget wide Fail to Plan = $$: My Menu Plan Fail