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Is the glass half full or half empty?

December 28th, 2006 at 02:27 am

In my case it seems to be half full, but you can make your own determination. Last week on Tuesday my car broke down on the way to work. In goes the clutch to shift, the clutch stays on floor board. Ohhh boy, what do I do now?

Fortunately I was less than two miles from work, and only had two traffic lights between me and a parking spot. All I needed to do was keep the car moving. As I had been moving when I tried to shift, I was able to force the car into first gear and limp it to work. (I'm sure two miles in first gear really helped my car's MPG!)

I won't get into the towing bill fiasco (an EXTREME aggravation), but after getting the car to the garage I waited at work for the bad news. It turned out not so bad, a $330 bill for it. (ok, still bad, but that dealership is expensive!) But they had been after me to have the timing belt replaced, and after two years I gave in and had it done as well. My total bill was about $1,100. Yeah, a nice Christmas present.

But through it all I wasn't that upset (except for the part of catching a bus, and then riding with a co-worker to work for two days). In the past this would have stressed me something bad, but not this time. Was it due to my Ex not being around? Well that certainly helped. But here is what I think was the big difference.

For the past 6 months I have started making money with the 0% bank transfers using credit cards. And I estimate my earnings through the end of the year to be about $1,000.

So I guess I looked at the situation thusly: Have I lost all my earnings from the 0% efforts this year (glass is half empty), or through some extra easy work was I able to have the money ready to pay a bill that would have happened sooner or later, and not hurt my savings efforts (glass is half full)? I have to think I am seeing it as half full. And while I hate paying that money, it sure is nice to have something that bad happen and not stress about it. In my mind I was prepared for it and the pain was minimal.

Yep, that works for me.

Posted in Frugality, Finance | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Is the glass half full or half empty?”

  1. marymara Says:
    December 28th, 2006 at 02:37 am 1167273476
    1167273476

    The glass half full outlook is always better than alternative!!!!!

  2. janH Says:
    December 28th, 2006 at 02:48 am 1167274086
    1167274086

    Sounds like a great way to look at it! I'm trying to set up some extra money for those happenings. It's nice to see that it does help the stress level. I hope to have the same outlook one day.

  3. jersey jen Says:
    December 28th, 2006 at 08:45 am 1167295518
    1167295518

    you know, your earning effort is there in case things like this would happen! so i have to say, your preparation paid off (no pun intended). do you have AAA? i think the membership is about $90 a year, it really comes in handy (like in this case).

  4. miclason Says:
    December 28th, 2006 at 05:32 pm 1167327149
    1167327149

    good for you!...I take this outlook, too...if I'm able to pay for emergencies without having to incurr in any NEW debt, all is well!

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