Murphy Shows Up...

Last week, Murphy made himaself known, BIG TIME!

It could have been a lot worse.  Someone could have died or gotten really hurt. I was driving to work in the morning, and hid the typical route-20-conga-line-of-traffic that I normally do. Waiting patiently for the morning traffic jam by the on-ramp for 95 to dissipate so I could get to work, the conga line started moving. I lightly pressed the gas, casually taking my car up to the speed of the flow of traffic, when the car in front of me suddenly slammed on his breaks. I hit my brakes down to the floor, and skidded into the trunk of the car in front of me.

I was fine, and remained calm, we both pulled over, along with a work truck that happened to be in front of the other car. The guy in the work truck blocked our cars off with the traffic cones he has on the back of his truck. I checked to make sure the driver and passenger of the other car were okay, then kept my mouth shut, I called the police to report an accident. When the cruise pulled up, two officers approached me, asking what had happened. As I started explaining how the car in front of me had stopped short, the male passenger of the other car interjected, agreeing that the driver (who had moved into the passenger seat of their car, because she was "shaken up,") had stopped short.

I got pictures of the damage to both cars (mine took the brunt of the damage, as my front end was completely smashed. Their car trunk had a dent in it causing it to pop open, but other than that, was drivable. I managed to drive my car the 1/8th of a mile to work, where I had it towed to the auto body shop. I'm not worried at all about my insurance's $500 deductible, as I have that amount and more stashed away in my starter emergency fund, and again, everybody is okay, which is WAY more important than the money.

I remember when I started following Dave Ramsey's plan, the $1000 Emergency Fund as Baby Step #1 seemed silly. But now I get it. I'm able to pay the insurance deductible in cash, without de-railing my plan to become debt free! I'm a saver, so I'll have my Emergency Fund re-loaded and ready to go the next time Murphy rears his ugly head, but I really cannot express the importance of making the saving-up of your Emergency Fund your primary goal before attacking your debt snowball, as this kind of Murphy-induced hiccup can completely be either a major set-back, or just a bump in the road on your way to becoming debt-free!