The thing about the crazy rain was that it had been happening for awhile. August was a series of deluges where the rain just didn’t seem to stop. It was as if a faucet had been turned on and someone had forgotten to turn it off. Then the rains would eventually taper off and the sun would come out.
Then September came. The rain began to fall. And fall. And fall. Initially we were a little in denial. Surely the rain would stop!? It didn’t. The rain started to fall even harder and a couple of my personal realities started to hit me in the face. Hard.
- I live in a garden level condo
- My condo could flood out
- I don’t have enough cash money on hand in case of an emergency
- I don’t want to use credit cards as my primary option during an emergency
- I know people who have been flooded out of their homes
- I know business owners whose businesses have been flooded out
- I was out of work for 2 days and asked to work from home for another day
- I know people who weren’t able to physically get to their jobs because the roads were under water or washed away. These are people working hourly-not salaried and lost income on those days.
I would have been FUCKED if my place had flooded. No joke.
Let’s be clear if something had happened I did have several options for the first two weeks of an emergency.
- Stay with mom if something happened to my condo. I could stay there as long as I needed to get back on my feet.
- If my condo was fine-but the roads weren’t passable (or we were asked to stay off the roads) I have more than enough food/beverages to last me at least, at least two-three weeks of being housebound. I have been housebound for 3 days before due to a snowstorm. This is not unusual in Colorado during a normal winter. I think this winter will be similar to 2007 when we had 4 major snowstorm events.
- Continue to Work-I can do some work from home because I have a computer. But, a lot of what I need to access is on my work computer
What if the emergency lasted more than two weeks? What would I do?
- I would take a hard, hard look at my monthly budget and really look at what expenses could be cut.
- What if my place of business was lost? During this storm my desk was hit by ceiling tiles and falling water. My colleague moved my desk and happily my computer wasn’t ruined. But, what if the business had been lost? In that event I would wait and see what my boss communicated to me. I am a state employee and if they decided to keep my office closed I would be offered another position within 2-3 weeks (based on how I was hired in 2004). At that point in time I could say yes or no to the new job. The tricky part about this is I would have no choice about what city I could potentially work in based on that scenario.
- If my place of business was destroyed. I would look into working again at Starbucks so that I could be around people if for some reason the state is unable to offer me a new position I would do an early launch of my freelancing business. I would also think of a service that is needed and offer that service to people.
- I would look at my health insurance and home insurance coverage. I would connect with the Human Resources department of the business that I work for and access the resources that they have available for personnel. I would look at starting my COBRA health care coverage.
- Unemployment-I’ve never had this so I’m not sure how it works
- Look into FEMA Grants, Red Cross, 411, etc there are a large number of organizations in Colorado offering services to people.
The truth hurts though. At the end of the day people with money (and insurance) are the ones who will have options during a situation like the flooding event that we have just experienced in Colorado. I will be looking even harder at my emergency fund and aggressively saving up.
About a month ago I decided that $10,000 is the amount that I would like to save for my emergency fund. It is a 5-6 month fund and includes all of the expenses that I feel should be budget for during an emergency. Expenses that I have included in my emergency fund include:
- My mortgage
- Groceries
- Electric
- Phone
- Internet
- Gym
- Transportation
- Student loan*current rate of payment*
- HOA
- Credit card payments*if I have any left
- Money for emergency travel to see my family. In case a family emergency crops up during that time.
Do you know where the following items are:
- Log in information for banking/mortgage/etc all electronic accounts
- Birth Certificates
- Immunization Records
- Title for home
- University records/diplomas
- Medical records-though a lot are automated at your dr.’s office
- Important heirlooms
- Have you scanned photos and put them in electronic albums?
What are the most important things that will fit in one small suitcase?? Do you have cash in your home in the event that the there are problems accessing an ATM? I will also be purchasing a basement pump in the event that there is flooding in my place.
What about your significant other? If you aren’t married have you discussed your finances? Emergency funds? What’s really important? What would you do if you lost your significant other? It’s morbid but it happened during the flood and every disaster that I’ve read about. If you are married have you talked about the above issues?
I will also look at how prepared I am for the physical aspects of dealing with an emergency. I mean physically-my health and fitness as well as ability to move debris, etc.
I have been focused on paying off my debt at an accelerated rate, but now I’m either going to slow down the pace just a bit and double the amount that I’ve been budgeting towards savings. Or, double the amount that I’m budgeting, cut down my expenses, and continue with the accelerated debt repayment. I will be working on side hustles beginning next week and all side hustle money will go towards debt repayment.
I already know people whose home burned down during the mountain fires, people who have lost homes due to flooding, women who’ve been widowed, people who have gotten divorced, people whose parents have lost jobs or have gotten sick, and the list goes on.
People life happens. How prepared are you for when the sh$t hits the fan. Because it will.
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Yikes, I hope you are ok. It sounds like a wake up call. It’s important to think of all these things, and I thank you for that reminder. My thoughts are with you and everyone in Colorado. 🙁
It was a HUGE wakeup call. Happily, I was very fortunate and very little happened to me and mine. You know how people play the 6 degrees of separation game or the 6 degrees to Kevin Bacon? With this it was one degree. We need emergency funds pure and simple. I don’t know why it’s taken this many disasters and people that I know who’ve experienced “LIFE” to get me to really, really understand you need Cash $$. Dollars, the Benjamins. Still freaking out.
Kyle and I have talked about being prepared for things like this before, but you really helped put it in perspective! It really lights a fire underneath me to set a few more financial goals so we can feel secure if something does happen. It’s also a huge motivator to continue to build our business to create cash flow so we do have options in a time of crisis.
Morbid? Maybe, but one has to be realistic and think logically about things like this. I’d rather talk about the uncomfortable for a brief time, set up a plan and execute… rather than not talk about it and have to deal with extremely negative consequences.
Thanks for the perspective!
I have had moments when the sh$t hits the fan and I haven’t been prepared. That’s part of the reason I’m in debt now. Quite frankly things will happen-hopefully not as extreme as the examples that I’ve given but there is no doubt in my mind that operating without a good cash reserve is a very bad idea. It’s a difficult to talk and think about but it’s reality.
This reminds me to reevaluate what I own and get renters insurance. I’ve been talking about it for son long but haven’t done it. 🙁 If my computer was stolen I’d be fucked because I could not get work done. Yes I have an efund to get a new one, but then that would be wiped out!
The sh$t hit the proverbial fan Tonya. More than once. I am freaked out and having cash $ is where I am shifting my focus.
So glad you’re OK. Hurricane Sandy was our wake-up call. Fortunately we only lost our car to the flooding. Some people lost everything. I almost never carry cash and it really made me realize I need to get several hundred dollars cash on hand for if the power goes out (and stays out) again.
We all think that nothing will happen to us the reality is that the longer we live the higher the probability we have of having an emergency. I hate being a Debbie Downer but the truth is the truth. I will be working hard on growing my ER fund. This sh$t has freaked me out big time!
I’m a big proponent of renter’s insurance.
And if you have any other type of insurance (Life, auto, boat, etc.), you’ll likely get a multi-policy discount when you add renter’s insurance, so the net cost ends up being darn near negligible
Happily I have homeowner’s insurance and our building is also insured through our HOA. But, I don’t have an ER fund that would supplement anything that I would get from insurance. When I rented I was more likely not to have renter’s insurance which was in retrospect really stupid. You’re completely right that insurance is key to keeping your assets covered!
Glad that you are okay and that you have a renewed focus on creating your e-fund. It also might be a decent time to review your insurance policies and make sure they cover everything you want them to. (ie – homeowner’s insurance doesn’t typically cover floods…)
Debt Blag also mentioned insurance too! I don’t technically live in the Flood Plain…but, there is a risk in my neighborhood because we’re about 12 blocks from a creek. All I keep hearing is money, money, money running through my head.