Thank You Dave Ramsey!

Over the last few years, Brad and I have been following the steps of Dave's Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. This started about two years ago when we took a hard look at the debt hole we had dug for ourselves. While not as deep as some others, we weren't comfortable with where we were. Thanks to my cousin, an avid fan of Mr. R, we started following Dave's babysteps.

Fast forward two and a half years later, and Brad and I are debt free (except for the house) and we had a fully funded emergency fund of about 4.5-5 months of living expenses. Just in time for the arrival of our daughter...and Murphy (for more about Murphy, click here).

Somehow, we managed to make it through my maternity leave without having to tap into the 911 fund for basic living expenses. Awesome. But then....

On the 9th day of the 2009 St. Louis Heat Wave, our air conditioner decided to stop working. Our house went from general comfort to a sauna in about two hours. Natalie and I packed our bags and quickly fled to Grandma Mary's house for refuge. Brad, bless his heart, stayed behind to take care of business.

(This also marked Natalie's first overnight away from home. She's done wonderfuly sleeping in a different place. I have to say for myself, for packing us both in about 15 minutes, I didn't do too badly from the preparation angle and the stress angle. Big wave in celebration of me!)
So, long story short, we're getting a new AC and heater. We knew when we bought the house we'd have to make this purchase eventually, but we had no idea when. Yes, in a perfect world, we would have had the funds set aside already, but having a baby kind of got in the way of that! :o) But, we had the funds available to us in our 911 fund to pay for the new system without any financing. I know it sounds crazy, but there's really something empowering about being able to do that.

Our next step will be to figure out how quickly we can put our 911 fund back together. It'll probably take some time, but we always do better with a plan - - - and we're both awesome planners.

Thanks Dave, and Thanks Joseph.