When we got back from Texas, this was what greeted me in our backyard--a large chunk of our cedar tree on the roof & power lines. Not good. Not good at all. In fact our tree guy said we were lucky that the tree didn't pull the electrical from the house; he has seen people lose everything they had in five minutes when a tree falls on the electrical lines. Needless to say this problem needed to be fixed.
Aside from the safety issue, the only problem was our insurance deductible is $1,000 and the bid for the tree removal was $800. That means we were 100% responsible for paying for this lovely act of nature...Welcome to being a home owner. While I hate the idea of losing so much money so quickly and not really gaining anything positive from it (no improved energy efficiency, no awesome product to use), I am so unbelievably thankful that the damage was minimal, our family was safe, and mostly, that we have the money in the bank to cover it.
I find that frugal living can at times be rather tedious. Is it really worth it to send away for a sample that will only provide you one or two shampoos? Or to spend the time to make your own laundry detergent when you're only saving $5 from the cheap store brand? Every time one of these unexpected life events occurs I have to answer a resounding yes. Perhaps it does take a lot of time to live frugally, to clip coupons, and to save money, but to have an emergency fund & to not have to go into debt makes it TOTALLY worth it.
Even if we were to somehow find oil in our backyard & become Beverly Hillbillies, I know I would still live frugally. I like the comfort of knowing that by living modestly we will have enough for a comfortable life AND be able to pay cash for unexpected expenses. To me, that makes all of the effort completely worth it.
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