You've got to pay attention to the hidden cost of living.
Like most adults, you've probably got a budget.
As the economy seems to worsen, we have to make our paychecks stretch a little further every month.
Food, car payment, rent, gas, medical, electricity. It all adds up.
I like to come up with a number that I need to make every month. Most people that I know are either in the red every month or they are just barely making enough money to get by.
Source: Pixabay.com
For the most part this works. We're no longer living in a society where it is normal to have an extra $500 every month. An extra $50 a month is great. Most people that I know don't even have an extra $5 per month though.
So what happens when you have an extra $5 per month and a hidden cost suddenly pops up?
Trouble.
Last week a friend of mine had car trouble that was unexpected. Nowadays you can take an Uber so it's not as bad as it was say 20 years ago to have car trouble. However, anybody that works and takes their Uber to work everyday will tell you that Uber is not very cheap in the long run. It adds up.
Fortunately my friend is able to work extra hours to pay off the car issue. He should have his car up and running soon..
At the beginning of this year I was unfortunately told that my rent would be increased by $100 per month. To me that's a significant increase. I wasn't expecting it but I guess I should have been.
However, the reason for this post is all about oil changes.
My car requires synthetic oil. I found a place not too far from here that will do a full synthetic oil change for $70. They have pretty good reviews on Yelp.
I was pleased to find the place mostly empty when I pulled in. They were able to get started on my car right away.
A sign out front mentioned that they would replace your windshield wipers for $10. I was excited at the prospect because mine no longer work very well.
When all was said and done I was given a bill for $150.
Well now I thought.
I budgeted $100 for this because I was quite certain that the $70 price would not exceed $100.
Keep in mind that the wipers were supposed to be $10 for the pair.
They were nearly $50.
Apparently my car requires some kind of special giant wipers that I was not told about before installation.
My car also requires nearly 7 quarts of oil instead of 5. Apparently that means that you pay more for the synthetic. I was not told that there would be an extra charge for that either.
Of course the very worst part was the fact that my seats are covered in black oil. That's pretty frustrating because I have been trying to wipe it off and not having great success.
However, each of us must be prepared for the hidden cost of living.
That means car issues, sometimes a higher electricity bill, medical issues, and all kinds of unexpected things.
If you are only saving up for the present then you're not saving up for the future.
You've got to pay attention to the hidden cost of living.
Oh, yeah... Been there, done that 😁. They just seem to pop out of nowhere, don't they? Just when you think you've got a bit extra to spare.
Every time you move forward they pull you back.
This reminds me of the character of Mr. Micawber in "David Copperfield," by Charles Dickens.
Dickens, whose own father went to debtors prison, put in Mr. Micawber's mouth a very famous quote which I will translate into modern American money:
"Annual income, 20,000 dollars, Annual expenditure, 19,999 dollars, Result, Happiness.
Annual income, 20,000 dollars, Annual expenditure, 20,001 dollars, Result, Misery."
It makes sense. At into that fact that most Americans are heavily in debt and it's more like 200,000. I've always thought about getting around to reading David Copperfield.
Hey but I imagine the inconvenience, because believe that the light is seen at the end of the road and that the bill is fatter than planned... Well things that happen.
Well I hope there's a light.
I think this should read, "Like most adults, you probably should have a budget."
When my wife and I had our daughter we were facing an extended period of reduced income and higher expenses, so we made a budget for the first time in our lives. It was very stressful for her because it meant questioning all of our choices and making sacrifices. She felt like it was a terrible, oppressive, crushing form of torture and there were lots of tears. It took two years for her to see the benefit of using a budget and now it seems effortless.
I guess there are different ways to interpret the phrase "having a budget." Some people see it as a plan for how to spend and save. Others see it as a juggling act that begins and ends on payday. The difference is just a few dollars, but it is a very different feeling.
Well everybody's got a budget. Some people budget for the future though and some people just make their ends meet. However, there are certain times in our lives when we can't plan for the future because we just don't have the money.
Once I happened to be in a supermarket with my mother had the money just for a tomato sauce and I do not know how I slip out of my hands and broke the jar, I had to pay for the broken jar and I could not take it, that day I felt very bad ... I learned the value of a few more coins in the portfolio, It happens to us all that when we are in crisis something happens.
Fortunate that he had the money to pay the additional bill.
I've seen plenty of people drop items in the grocery store and break them but I've never heard of anyone having to pay for that.
The economic situation in my country is so harsh that 5 additional dollars are equivalent for me to 2 monthly salaries, so with this crisis I learned the value of saving, and that there were things that were simple became a luxury. The important thing is to learn from this and survive.
That's very difficult. I agree that learning and surviving is the most important thing.
I know what are you saying here. We learn the value of saving but because we "must", not because we "want". The cost of living is expensive and unexpected, that´s how the world was designed, I suppose.
I'm not sure if that's how the world was designed originally but that's certainly how we're living in this world.
Yeah sir you said right.
When we grow up that increase our expense.
Thanks for sharing sir @jeezzle.