I received the below email yesterday from a person who is on the "edge" of implementing the basic principles of Financial Peace University and thought I would post my reponse to them. Hopefully, it can encourage you to get serious about your spending before it is spent.Question: What would fpu advise about taking on debt to upkeep a house? Ac unit, siding, windows and such.
Response: Well if you are actually following/committed to FPU Baby Steps and the principles, you wouldn't go into anymore debt. But that also depends on where you are in the process.
I don't need to know the answers, they should just help you assess the situation.
1. Can you sell some stuff to pay for it? Gaming systems, furniture, cars...
2. Do you have an emergency fund?
3. Which of these is a true emergency and which can you radically save for? I would make the AC an emergency since your wife is pregnant. ;-)
If you've sold everything and don't have an emergency fund, then you really only have two choices. Start radically saving now and live on beans and rice until you can cover the cost or do what most Americans have done and go in debt.
I know this doesn't help now, but since I tell people to spend EVERY dollar on paper before the month begins, I encourage everyone in my class to setup a car and home repairs account in their budget and put at least $5 a month in it. Things break, so we need to plan for it. This also keeps their emergency fund full because they pull from a different fund (repair fund) when things need upgrading/fixing.
Hope this helps!
Caleb
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