Hello darlings,
when things go wrong (and let’s face it, they often do), it can be a struggle knowing which direction to turn. Whether it’s finance-related, a family problem, work getting you down or something not as sinister as any of these options, we rarely have back up. After all - how can you predict the unexpected and prepare yourself for the outcomes?
The one thing that you can do is try and cover as many bases as you can. This can be tricky, as you could go on forever; there’s no limit as to where you can stop. There are of course tips, tricks and hacks to getting you sorted when you have hit the state of emergency, be these can end up being costly and often quite time-consuming. Cover your back on the main things and you should be just fine.
Electrical Goods
If you have taken out an extended warranty on most of the products that you have bought, then there’s no much more you can do; the warranty should at least cover you to get it repaired if not replaced completely. The one thing you can do to keep yourself on top of everything is get bigger, more used products serviced regularly. This mainly include white goods, so your dishwasher, washing machine, fridge etc. You never really know how much you rely on something until it stops working, and the people who are trained to carry out inspections and services on your goods know what they’re doing - they can often detect a problem a while before it gets completely out of control and ends up damaging the whole item.
Cars
Keeping on top of the maintenance of a car can seem like a daunting task, but it’s easy enough to work into your daily routine once you get used to just how simple it is to manage. Filling up the windscreen wash, checking the oil, regularly checking the wear of your tyres and the pressure and keeping a close eye on your lights and how they’re acting is an extremely good start, and something that it takes less than five minutes to do in the morning. It could save you something more disastrous going wrong; you are more prone to notice that something is out of line with your vehicle if you are constantly checking it. You will get to know what is normal and what isn’t. Don’t expect to become a mechanic overnight; if something does go wrong then there is little chance that you will be able to fix it yourself, but as long as you know the signs before the major disaster happens, then you will be able to catch it at the early stages when it won’t cost a fraction of the price. There are sites such as Personal Money Store who could help with providing you finance should any of these problems occur, but this shouldn’t necessarily be an option that you have to deal with if you are managing your car correctly. Of course there are some things which just come out of the blue no matter how much you try and check the essentials; a blown head gasket, a burst tyre or even a car crash are things that you can’t necessarily preempt and that could cost a pretty penny.
Household Upkeep
There are things inside and outside of your house that you will need to continuously upkeep to avoid splurging out drastically when things start to go awry. Keeping on top of simple jobs like paint touchups, pruning in the garden and filling in small cracks can help you on your way to saving yourself a load. You’ll also be picking up some frugal tips and tricks along the way; there are so many sites online that can give you tips on things that you can do now to save yourself money in the long run, and they mainly consist of maintaining general upkeep in order to keep everything ticking along nicely. Be as pedantic as you like; if you think that you can see something happening before it actually does or can preempt something going the way it shouldn’t and stepping in to resolve it, such as knowing that a skirting board will need a once-over with a lick of scuff-resistant paint before the marks start to come in when it’s summer time, you’ll be a step ahead of hiring a professional to come in and do the work for you when it’s all mounted up. It’s not like you need a crystal ball to see things happening in the future - it’s just about having a bit of common sense and realising that actions lead to consequences, not just in our social lives but in the things we do around our homes, too.
Savings
The more you save, the less financial worry you will have if things go wrong and require money to fix. It’s the way of the world these days; you will rarely find someone who will do something out of the good of their heart in order to get you back on track. Money talks, and the more you have then the quicker you will get things resolved. It’s such a sad reality when you think about it, but it’s the only way that we can get forwards nowadays without having to rely on the help of others (who are usually coming forth with their own cash anyway). If you have children, make sure that you are opening up an account for them as soon as possible with their own savings in; any birthday money or gifts that they are to receive throughout the year should be thought about being put in a bank for safekeeping. It sounds like a mean thing to do when your child is little and wanting to spend their money on toys, but think about how much they already have - would they benefit more from the money being spent now or being saved to be spent a bit later on in life? You never know what they will need the money for, and if it’s an emergency on their part then they will be thanking their lucky stars that they had something to fall back on. Don’t worry, you’re not spoiling them by feeding into a bank account for them for when they’re grown up - it’s actually the sensible thing to do, making sure that they are knowing the value of money and also covering your own back with the knowledge that they have their own account to access should anything go wrong. Not necessarily tough love but a great perspective for them to have; go to your own funds first and then if you’re really in trouble, that’s when you can hit the bank of Mom and Dad.
Insurance
There are so many different types of insurance that you can invest in nowadays; life insurance, health insurance, house insurance, car insurance to name but a few. These can come in handy if something goes off piste with any of the subjects concerned, and don’t scrimp on how much you can afford to put in if it gets you extra cover. For example, if you are choosing a car insurance policy but don’t opt to put in a few extra dollars for breakdown cover, you could be spending hundreds at a future point when your car decides to give up the ghost miles away from your home. It’s a hypothetical situation, but one that definitely could happen - and one that you can definitely avoid.
Lot's of love
