Car broken, no problem....

[martynthewolf]

So my car had a catastrophic leak today, basically all my coolant leaked out through a crack in the thermostat housing and the car almost overheated.

I don't have the ability to fix this myself but no worries. Due to better financial planning I now have a maintenance fund for my car. I got a garage recommended by a good friend, we went there, they diagnosed the problem, £80 for labour, parts and flushed coolant system with new coolant. They also recommended two new tyres, the spare was basically deteriorating off the rim, another £90 with alignment. So all in £170 quid.

Already had some worried looks and comments assuming that its going to cause a huge problem having to spend that amount of money without any warning. They seem baffled that I'm not particularly bothered. I could have quite easily absorbed a much larger repair bill but some of their heads might have exploded knowing that.

[SAHD]

good job on having a plan in place for such a problem.  Makes other around you jealous.

[Thegoblinchief]

Good job having the maintenance fund. Though on most cars a thermostat is an easy DIY fix that would have saved you even more ;)

[martynthewolf]

Good job having the maintenance fund. Though on most cars a thermostat is an easy DIY fix that would have saved you even more ;)

Yeah I looked it up on the internet since, I'd feel confident doing it myself if it happened again :)

[MsSindy]

It's a great feeling, right!

Yeah, my advice for people starting out is if FI is really far away because of debts and whatnot, don't focus on that.  Instead focus on getting your financial house in order, have some money saved so you feel confident that you can handle the things that life will throw at you.  There's so much to be said for first feeling a sense of financial peace and security, where you can make level-headed decisions and not collapse in a heap of despair.   THEN you can focus on getting to FI.

Congrats to you!