Saturday, August 21, 2010

We lost our Focus

This actually happened on the Thursday before Great Grandpa Paul's visit but I didn't want to spoil that fun post with this insanity ;~)

Thursday afternoon Adam called me saying I needed to come pick him up immediately... he was in the middle of the road with a dead car.

Awesome.

I grabbed the boy and off we went. By the time we arrived a kind stranger had helped Adam push the car into a parking lot and Adam had secured their permission to leave it temporarily. After some calling tow trucks and grabbing a pizza, we came back to watch the joy that is your car being put on a tow truck.

Seriously, I have experienced this too many times. Right Jaime and Adam?

Adam made a comment about getting it fixed quickly and for around $500... I only prayed that was the case but in my heart I knew differently.

Sure enough, Friday afternoon, while we are sitting with Great Grandpa Paul, Adam breaks the news he got from the mechanic.

Far... far... far more than our original hope. The car sprung a massive oil leak and the engine had locked up. Turns out those red lights mean something. Basically it would be pure insanity to fix a Ford Focus for that price.

Talk about timing.

I just remember telling myself not to freak out. I kept telling myself (sometimes audibly and sometimes in my head) that in a year this would just be a blip in our life. We will have pushed past it and would probably be stronger for it... so don't flip out now.

And I did a pretty good job (if I do say so myself ;~) I've come a long way baby.

So that's where we are.

Unfortunately it's tied to a lien for Adam's business so the decision of what to do isn't ours alone... something that makes me so very sad. We refuse to add another car payment to our already razor thin (especially now) budget. We have lots of 'if this, than that' situations but lucky for us, we have lots of cars in this family and we still have 2 to drive at all times. We have time to work it all out and decide on our best option.

In a weird sort of way, this will be good for us. Adam joked that we "lost our Focus, both literally and figuratively"... and he is absolutely right. We tend to go through these peaks and valleys when it comes to financial freedom. Sometimes we are so tight and on our game when it comes to finances... paying down and not spending.

And then we generally slip. A purchase here... an unnecessary expense here... and soon we are stopping at Starbucks far too often and spending money that we shouldn't for stuff that we didn't really need. It's a cycle with us.

Please know that I am not chastising anyone for the money they spend, Starbucks or otherwise. I am only talking about our slippery slope.

So lately we've been on that slope... and by on it I mean careening down it full steam ahead.

So really, losing the Focus will be good for us. We've been forced to make decisions and revamp our budget. We are looking at the bigger broader picture and how we can achieve more of our goals instead of just coasting through.

We have some monumental challenges but I think with little more figurative focus (and a lot less literal Focus), we'll meet them. Life is all about the ups and downs and how you handle them right?

breathe Jessica, breathe.

4 comments:

Evil Twin's Wife said...

We operate the same way. I'll be doing so good with the budget, then BOOM! We're spiraling out of control. I'm in the process of reigning it in for now!

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain. Seems we do the same thing. So tight and then we'll loosen up only to be hit with a big expense. Did someone say Karma? Good Luck.

Mandy said...

Stresses me out just reading about it. I tend to get crazy stressed about things like that, but I'm working on it. It's hard!! It'll all work out ... I just keep repeating that to myself over and over and over. And, somehow, it always does :)

KaraB said...

After getting down to searching the sofa for gas money, I sat down and realized I was spending...gulp..upwards of $75-$90 a WEEK on buying breakfast and lunch at work. Appalling!! So I immediately went out and bought a box of cereal and some Lean Cuisines, cancelled some unnecessary monthly expenses, put some stuff on ebay, and have been sticking it. Starbucks has become a treat again, the way it should be in my opinion. When I win the lottery, you and I shall laugh at this as we vacation in Fiji with our frappacinos.