Bad Things Come in Threes
by Ashley
My late Grandmother used to be very superstitious. I remember as a child when something bad would happen she would warn us to be careful because “bad things come in threes!” Maybe Grandma was right because we’ve been hit with our fair share of bad luck with house-related repairs recently.
Three Recent (Unplanned) Home Repairs:
The first was an unexpected roof repair.
We’ve had some bad storms this summer and after one particularly rough one with high winds (there were downed trees all over our neighborhood to give an example of just how strong the winds were), we noticed some of the tiles from our roof had flown off! Luckily there wasn’t any major damage beneath (no leaks or anything), but we knew this was a repair that was needed ASAP! It was just last month and it cost $500 to replace a few tiles and do some additional repairs that were needed.
Next, we needed an emergency plumber.
The handle in our kids’ shower has been “sticking” for a while. The girls have complained about how difficult it is to turn the water on and off. I’ve just ignored it and done nothing about it (ooof!). Until……one night one of the girls was showering and all of a sudden the handle broke off and water started shooting out against the shower wall! There’s no shut-off just to the shower, so we had to turn the water off on the street and have an emergency plumber come out to fix the problem. Another $500 repair.
Last, an unexpected termite treatment.
The area where we live has heavy termite activity. So much so that newly built homes are proactively treated and come with a 5-year warranty. Our home just hit the 6-year mark. It’s out of warranty, but I wasn’t too concerned. We’ve had termite inspections annually and never had a problem. But this year when the inspector came out, he found evidence of termites in 5 different places! Due to the evidence of termites in multiple places, it was recommended that we re-treat the entire house (not just spot-treating the spots with tubes). Comprehensive treatment costs $1300.
All three of these things have happened within the past month. Nearly $2500 worth of unexpected home repairs! It makes me very grateful that we have a healthy emergency fund so this isn’t a bigger disaster than it might have been otherwise. This is yet another reason why I’ve decided to have our emergency fund be larger than Dave Ramsey’s recommended $1,000 “starter EF.” Sometimes emergencies come up in 3’s and cost two-and-a-half times that amount!
I’m knocking on wood that this is the last of it for a bit.
How much do you have in your Emergency Fund? What was the last major unexpected home repair you had to pay for?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Late 30’s, married mother of two, working as a professor at a major university in the southwest. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!