$1773

$1773. That's what it recently cost us to replace our failing water heater and pressure reducing valve (PRV) in our home. We've known that both items had issues, and finally called a plumber. He showed up, said we needed a water new water heater, a pressure tank, and a PRV. Knowing that these items needed to be replaced sooner rather than later, we agreed to the estimated price and he started to work. After about 3 hours, he had replaced each item and the hot water and water pressure in our house was back to normal.

How did we handle the cost? Simple. We paid for the repairs out of our emergency savings account. Repairs of this type couldn't wait any longer, and we're glad we had the money available so that instead of this financial burden becoming an emergency where we would need to borrow money to pay for the repairs, it was simply an issue of transferring money from our savings account to pay the plumber once he had finished his work. No big deal at all. We even went out to eat that night because paying for emergencies from our emergency fund doesn't affect our regular monthly budget.

We will need to replace the emergency savings we spent on repairs, but we will tackle that one month at a time.

What are your experiences when an unexpected expense such as plumbing repairs comes to visit? Please leave your comments below.