Then came the five years of horrendous medical bills, four miscarriages in two years, and a job loss the day we found out I was pregnant with our daughter, a high risk pregnancy. Oh, and six operations, one of which wasn’t completely covered by insurance (huge deductible).

Two years ago, we sat glued to the tv in a couple of motel rooms in Memphis, TN with my parents, sis and her family, our family, assorted pets, and what we’d been able to carry away with us, and watched southeast Louisiana wash away. My sister’s house (which we’d custom-redone…it was NICE), was flooded again (no insurance this time, either. AND there was a tree through the roof. And the heavily wooded lot we’d all planned to build on had been hit by a tornado, so we had 6.5 acres of broken and dangling trees to deal with, as well. Not covered by insurance.

We are well-schooled in the art of managing crises. Now, when we go a couple months without something breaking or blowing up, we start getting worried; what’s next?

My primo piece of advice. Buy flood insurance. Even if you live smack in the middle of the Mojave Desert. At some point, no matter where you live, chances are good you’ll need it.

And after 12 years, my main realization has been that sometimes, your purpose in life really IS to serve as a warning to others!

Maybe you could team up with a few people with similar interests so you won’t feel like you’re on your own while doing this- you already sound like you’re kinda tired out & negative, and with some buddies you could keep each other motivated.

There must be someone in your community that gives career counselling and can come up with something appropriate & helpful for your specific situation and location.

~D

J/K. Law of averages. You know a GAJILLION people.

I am so glad you wrote this today. Yesterday, my husband had to be driven to the ER for extremely acute pains in his abdomen. He needed a CT scan, many pain drugs, and an emergency room visit before the doctor pin-pointed that he had a kidney stone – his first one.

We’re young and newly married, and I think our emergency fund will JUST cover these expenses (especially if I ask for a discount after I receive the bill.)

We’re also uninsured. Our employer doesn’t offer adequate coverage – basically a glorified prescription card, and we were in the process of shopping for insurance when this happened. Well. As of this morning, an insurance application in on its way to Aetna in the mail. Thank heavens for our emergency fund.

Kate

Kate

1. Set backs are inevitable deal with it. (in other words don’t freak out)
2. Present a solution not a problem
3. Minimize the damage to the budget
4. Lessons learned from previous financial disasters. This was a big one for us this last time. Realized I often compounded the problem with stupid spending decisions.

I also would add, get used to saving money and spending less, it helps immensely when money is tight.

Had an office-mate, a lively young dude who loved to tool around town on his motorcycle. Well, you can imagine what happened next: he had a strange encounter with a truck. He broke every bone in his body (nope: not a figure of speech), somehow survived, and spent six months in a nursing home recuperating.

Accidents happen. So does cancer. So do strokes. They all can happen to surprisingly young people and any one of them can land you in a nursing home. Long-term care insurance can at least give you a shot at saving your assets for your spouse and kids–without it, your family can lose everything and then some.

One thing that helped us was not just an emergency fund (which is never big enough), but also some stored up food and consumables. We lasted a long time on our stored up dry and canned goods and lots of toilet paper. Having a Costco closet really helped us get thru the time our house was on the market until it sold.