Gives new meaning to "rainy day fund"
It’s Tuesday which means another weekly check in for the Savings Pledge. New readers, if you’re wondering what I’m talking about when I say Savings Pledge, check out the Savings Pledge tab on the Facebook page. I didn’t have a great July but then got back on track for August. Then……..Hurricane Irene.
In 1999, about six weeks after we settled on this house and moved in, we were hit by Hurricane Floyd. It was awful–we had several inches of water in our basement and no electricity for four days. No electricity=no sump pump and no shopvac to clean up water, so everything just sat there. We lost everything in our fridge and downstairs freezer. At the time, we had no kids and only one dog. I came home from work, we were dismissed early and my road was already impassable. I had to be shuttled in & out on a fire rescue truck to get my dog and some things to be evacuated. There were lots and lots of Coast Guard rescues in my town.
So when forecasters were saying that Irene was going to be much worse for us than Irene, I was very nervous. But my hubby did a fabulous prep job on it all, and we made it through relatively unscathed. On Sunday he got about ten gallons in the shopvac and lost power for 6-8 hours, but that’s it. It was very scary and difficult to sleep Saturday night, especially with all the tornado warnings, but all in all we were pleased.
What was different this time was some ditch digging he did in the bag yard and extra gutters. Floyd took us by complete surprise but with Irene we were prepared and for that, I am very thankful to the media. Irene damaged my savings pledge progress as we did have to pay for some new gutter extensions and other miscellaneous items to prepare, but that’s small potatoes compared to what Floyd cost us.
As one of my favorite Philadelphians said, “An ounce of prevention………”
How are you doing with the Savings Pledge? If you haven’t taken it yet, sign up today. Do you have a rainy day fund?
I’d say Irene is not only a good excuse for not meeting a savings pledge goal, it’s also a great reason for making a savings pledge in the first place! We never know what life is going to throw our way, so being prepared with some savings is always a good idea.