The beginning of January and winter has finally decided to hit our little piece of Indiana full force this week. With the freezing cold temperatures and snowy conditions, I chose to avoid driving as much as possible. Before we had kids, I might have braved the roads a little more, cabin fever pushing me out the door, but with our three little ones, I’m not willing to risk getting stuck in a snow drift, or a stalled battery. Driving through snow and ice always leaves me with hunched shoulders and dry eyes, because I’ll literally have my eyes peeled open and won’t blink nearly as often as I need to. It’s not that I’m a bad driver, I just think I understand the physics of driving a little too well…a few tons of metal, travelling at high speeds, on potentially slick surfaces, and surrounded by heavy, immovable objects such as trees and light poles. Throw in a few prancing deer and oncoming traffic, and you begin to understand why my husband does most of the driving in this weather. My mind might be racing, but the van will be crawling. That’s how I roll…literally.

 

I’m the same way with our finances, but thankfully, our budget is something I can control much more readily than I can other drivers, wandering wildlife, or the weather. Of course, there’s always the possibility of a financial storm, whether that be an unexpected hospital visit, home repair, or car malfunction, but while anticipating the worst while driving through Marion’s winter wonderland might actually make me a worse driver, planning for these possibilities in our financial lives has been a big boost to us when we’ve needed a little extra cash.

When we started our journey to get out of debt, Lisa at Afena told us to always “pay ourselves first”. That has stuck with me over the years.  And once we started the habit of automatically transferring so much of our paycheck to our savings account every week, it really did become a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. But what a relief it was when the fuel pump went out in the van and we didn’t have to pay for a new one with the credit card. It’s a good feeling, and that’s why I challenge you to start “paying yourself first” in 2015 if you’re not already doing so. Even if it’s only a few dollars, that extra buffer helps a lot when you need it the most. I’m Claire, the Afena blog mom. Thanks for reading.