When it Rains, It POURS

Introduction

Welcome to another episode of Black Girl fly. I'm your girl Tenisha Nicole.

And I'm Shana Dixon.

And today we're going to be talking about something that no one really likes to talk about. But when it rains, it pours guys like when Murphy's Law is out there and anything that can go wrong does go wrong. Like it just gets real, especially if it's a season of like holiday and like are busy time for your family. Like we just want to give you all some solace, let you know that you're not alone if this has happened to you, or if you're currently going through it.

When it Rains, It literally POURS- Plan for It

Yeah. So I do have to tell you guys, so we talked about emergency funds and all this stuff, right? So when I thought about like having an emergency fund and preparing for the unknown, and all of that stuff, I always thought like, the biggest thing that could happen was you could lose your job. Right, like so that's why three months is important. Three to six months is important. You do that and whatnot. But what I didn't realize is exactly what's nice. Just said, sometimes stuff just keeps happening. So let me tell you, so she was referring to me. In the past that probably two and a half months, there has been so much to go on. And I mean, just craziness, things you wouldn't expect. So I had my heat went out on my AC unit. And it turned out I need to replace some part there, whatever. But then with COVID They're like, Oh, we can't get to you right away. It's gonna take a little while. So we had to go cold. Yeah. We had to buy little heaters to put all around my house to make sure we can stay warm. And then it was a car repair. It was though that was on one car, busted tires on the second car ran went through something I don't know what exactly happened. Then my refrigerator went out like just randomly like my refrigerator, just clock. It was done. Yeah. And then after that, so I was actually in the hospital. So my son got sick. And they couldn't figure out what was wrong. We were literally in the hospital for like a whole week. And I'm like that so they ran this thing. They ran every test in the book. Like I feel so much better about his health because I know he had some scans yet to blood work yet they check out his pee like they did everything possible. But we stayed in hospital for like seven days. So after that happened, I was like, let me check my air. You know, make sure I can clean my air out. So I caught myself getting a little regular maintenance on my AC ducts and stuff you know, I just fixed my my heater. I just told you guys that right? And they found mold in my freakin AC unit. Wow. And I was like, What do you mean? They're like, Yeah, but it needs to be cleaned out. It's on cost. Wow, crazy money. And then another car repair. Do what I say this all happened in two months? Yeah, two months. And I was like, Okay, I get it first time. It's little tight, I still get it. Okay. And then I was like, Oh, crap, I got to hit that emergency fund. And do you know, though, I am so grateful. If this was two years ago, if this was three years ago, I would have been in a such different place. But when I say I truly focused on being my son, every second, like I was even I wouldn't even study I missed work. And I was just in the hospital holding him. Cam for him loving on him. And also I was like, Yeah, to be done. You know, yeah, to be done. I gotta be done. Gotta be done. But guys, like, it cost me so much money. But when I say I am not the same person today that I was three years ago when I wouldn't have been able to handle any of this. I mean, from the financial stress of it all to actually be in a situation where your newborn child is sick,

right? can't work.

Yes, like I would have been devastated. But you have to know it and what Tanisha said earlier, is stuff happens. You have to plan for it. Like nobody's gonna tell you, Oh, your AC your car, and your kid is gonna all pick out within a couple of weeks of each other.

And oh, by the way, Christmas has come to me, but in the world doesn't stop right and does not stop and then has no mercy. You know, Grace

doesn't. But the thing that I like I told you like the thing that hit me it's so funny is I honestly, was just so thankful, like people were like so with my car, so my car was wrecked. After that I'd been breached that my car was wrecked. I was driving my car, I had let somebody else drive my car, they wrecked my car. And I wasn't upset. Like, yeah, I mean, it was a thing. I'm not saying that it didn't bother me. But it's gone. It's nothing I could do about it, it would be no point in dwelling on it. You know, it is what it is. And I felt so much more peace in being able to deal with that. But it's because, like I did the right things. And I know guys, it's a struggle. Sometimes it's like, oh, you know, there's so many more things you can think about spending your money on? Yeah, there's so many more things that are always available for you to purchase. But at the end of the day, this life, you need to be good and good comes with preparing for the unexpected, right?

You never know when something is gonna go down. Yeah. And so I think that's the part. You know, I hate paying insurance when I think everybody hates paying insurance. But when we need that insurance, oh, we sure glad we paid for it. So, I mean, I think exactly what you're saying is hard to save money for some unknown thing that may or may not happen, but boy, are you glad you haven't when you need it, you know, and so but I mean to, like we have to, I think we have to acknowledge is gonna happen. At some point, something's gonna happen. And so even with my finances, I was thinking about sounds low. I was like, dang, but the thing that bothered me was I was like, dang, I gotta stop doing some of my other goals and go back and refill our emergency.

You need to replenish, yes, prioritize replenishing it.

But so that is what got me but the reality was to is, before that, I had additional money that I could put back in my budget, because my emergency fund was full. So like, yeah, sometimes just sitting there, that just means that you are making a little bit more that you can truly do things with, that you wouldn't be able to do if you were falling behind some credit card debt, if you were, you know, having to get a payday loan or whatever else they had 1,000,000,000% interest, whereas this money is your money. And not only is your money, it make little little little interest on that money while it's there. And it's something that's going to happen, like you have to know that an emergency is gonna come up, something unclaimed that you need to do is going to happen.

And the last thing you want to have to do is pull out a payday loan, or even use your credit card, like where interest is going to be 20% at a minimum.

And in no way that in time of emergency was something that has happened that was unexpected, that you're also going to have to be battling the capacity to think about the financial aspects is so much more devastating. Yeah, yeah. And I've talked about this in the past, with people about like funerals and burials and yeah, and things like that. But it was so much easier to bury my mother, knowing that we didn't have to figure out where the money came from. Like, it's the same thing, it's so much easier to deal with a brokedown car, if you know you got cash in the bank, to fix it, or to get a new one, or whatever you have to do.

And so luxury, it really is a luxury that I think is available to those that prioritize it. Yeah. Right, you may have to sacrifice in other areas like Tashaunda saying, to get it to the level you want it to be. But really, once you get it there, the comfort is there. And

Get Creative

I'm gonna say to you, I think you hit the hit on that when you said prioritizing. The reality is we're in 2022 now, like, do you have so much opportunity to go out and make cash. And I'm not saying that, like, even if you have a job if you realize the urgency or of anything and I'm not just gonna say here emergency but if you guys the urgency with which you want something, you can make it happen. Like so the thing that somebody was saying, Somebody kidnap your child, and was like, You need to pay me $10,000 In two weeks, you could get in 2022 you can get out here and make that $10,000 And so it's it's with that urgency it's with that desire that you can frame this thing and guys, I know that you might be tired that you might likely that you might miss your favorite episodes, that you might be working more than the standard 40 hours a week that you might be doing all these things but that peace of mind. Yeah, yeah. It's worth it that that that freedom to to figure out how to really truly be present with your baby if they're sick, right? It's worth

it. And I feel like I mean with the pandemic, you know, some more hit more than others. But I feel like most of us got a lesson in like no prepared, yet are like, during that time. So, you know, maybe this is fresh for some of y'all. But think back to those moments and what you maybe could have done differently, to help prevent, you know, some of the things that may have happened.

Yeah, I think that's so good. But it's out there, guys, if you got a driver's license, you can do Amazon flex, you can do grocery delivery, you can do food delivery, you can do transportation for cars, if you have a cell phone, you can do surveys online, you can do. I mean, there is so much opportunity, you can do anything.

Yeah. And I always say to people, don't underestimate, like the knowledge that you had in the value that that may be though your knowledge, like you work for a company right now given them something they pay you because you provide value. Do that on your own.

Takeaways

Yeah, there are so many things. So just think about the possibilities. And you know, get creative about it and prioritize as we said, any other nuggets, you would say to sum up and recap that episode, I just want to say just to recap, don't shortchange yourself and not preparing for the unexpected. Like guys do. I'm a regular person. And literally in the last two months, I just told you, car house kid, I mean, appliances, like anything can always and will always happen. Something's gonna pop up guys, if you guys are living, cushy, nothing has happened to you. That just means it's around the corner. So prepare for it because you can because you have the ability to do so.

So we typically say at least a three month emergency fund, and that's three months of your expenses, your living expenses. Yep. So if you pay for rent, lights, water, gas, food, whatever, and it ends

up being, I include all that in my living expense,

I do so so I do want to warn you guys, I do some fluctuations. So like, so something I wouldn't consider would be like, memberships that I have, because I could just cancel those if there was free membership. So

this is a thing if you want to maintain the lifestyle, and also give yourself a cushion. You build those in, right? And so you can do it based on your minimum expenses. Like just what you need to live and eat and have shelter and all that or and it really depends on what you're planning. So like if you're self employed if you're, you're working silico and write that. So but the baseline is cover your expenses, so you can live for at least three months, at least and a lot of people if you're self employed, I'd lean towards six. Yeah, so yeah, do six and I even I like to do nine times. You never know what can happen in a market where you're self employed.

Yep, yep, yep. No, it's awesome. It's gonna happen guys. So finish.

Yes. So until next time, folks. I'm your girl Tanisha Nicole app shop. And we are like go fly.