Fuel for Thought

Wait...What? How?

You never know what the future holds, but you can do your best to prepare for it. No one can prepare for everything, so there will always be surprise events along the way. 

When you get ready for the winter driving season, do you prepare differently from the summer driving season? Most do. Most drivers will add warm clothing, blankets, extra drinking water, check flashlight batteries, maybe even change out the summer tires for winter ones.

You might think at this point that this is a blog about winter driving, well, it is not. It is about being caught off guard.

No matter the time of year, things will happen on the road. Whether it is a breakdown on a hot summer day in the desert, or a pile up in the dead of winter on an icy road that leaves you sitting there for many hours, you cannot always plan for everything. You can plan for some issues that may arise.

During a natural disaster, like a tornado, hurricane or a blizzard, many times, power outages cause more inconvenience than other issues. Fuel pumps only work when there is power to the pumps, charge cards only work when there is power and phone or internet service. Today’s “cash registers” will not be able to charge your card if there is not any power. Are you prepared?

If an emergency happens to you on the road, do you have a plan?

Breakdowns happen.

Weather happens.

Home emergencies happen.

Emergency funds happen.

Wait...What was that last one?

Yep. having an emergency fund available 24/7/365 while on the road should be on your essentials list. Life happens, be as prepared as possible, you never know what lies just down the road.

You can make all the excuses in the world as to why you cannot have an emergency fund, but excuses will not help you when the chips are down.

If you are just starting out or just scraping by, it can be much more difficult to save an emergency fund. 

Pennies turn into dollars. 

If you must, start small. In this country, we enjoy a plethora of excesses. Try cutting back on a few of them and put that extra cash away for the inevitable rainy day. Make no mistake, that day will come when the rains will seemingly not stop, but with a little preparation before the storms, when the sun does come out from behind those dark clouds, if you prepared (even a little), you will be glad you didn’t waste much needed revenue on that new cell phone or chrome ornament.

Be prepared. Start yesterday.

See you down the road,

Greg