Undisclosed Costs of Higher Education: My $1000 test!
I had a reminder last month of how thankful I am that I finally managed to get my financial house in order(as much as you can with a ton of educational debt)
As I have progressed in my education, each step has required a progressively more expensive examination to reach the next level. I just found out the latest step in this journey is going to cost me close to $1000.
Luckily over the past year my wife and I have managed to accumulate a sufficient emergency fund to help us to cover unexpected large bills like these.
Although in most instances I wouldn’t qualify a test as a “true” emergency, this bill happened to come shortly after I had paid off the last of my old credit card debt, reminding me of my old habit of living beyond my means.
Couple that timing with some comments from a few of my classmates who live paycheck to paycheck and I am thankful that I no longer have to place the unexpected expenses that come up each month on my credit cards to be paid off some time in the future.
Everyone is different in how long it takes them to accumulate an emergency fund. I found that for us, it was very helpful to have a lump of seed money after selling my truck to help this account have some heft to it as soon as I opened it. Perhaps this could be a good use for a holiday bonus this year.
