An Unexpected Expense

End of the month.   In our house its like a reset button.   My husband gets paid once per month, so it gets a bit tricky near the end. That last week of the month is a bit of a juggling act with regards to expenses and I am not just referring to the automatic withdrawals that come out either (mortgage, electricity, gas, cell phone, internet, cable, property taxes....arg!).  But, today, the check is in!  Transfer funds! Pay credit card!  And our personal taxes were done already....ahhhh...breathe again until the last week of May.

But, there is always something that you don't expect each month. Our unexpected incident this month was a car expense (sigh).  Our son plays hockey and now that it's nice outside, he plays street hockey with neighbourhood friends.   He has the net set up in our driveway, and we have those awesome ball marks on our garage door, which I don't mind as it means he is being active and getting fresh air and is not playing video games.  Our rule is "if the garage door is open, no shooting on net!".  Pretty simple?  Well, just as  rules can be broken, so can the back window of our Kia...into a million pieces. SMASH!   The garage was open, and he took a HARD shot on net.  In his mind he never misses.  And while he does have an accurate shot, mistakes happen...and this was our unexpected April expense.  He never had any intention of shattering the glass, and as a parent, it is hard sometimes to remember intention.  He was freaked out for a while after it happened (ironically it happened just as we were getting ready to leave for his spring hockey practice!).  And then you think of that whole natural consequences thing.  Do we ground him forever? Use the belt (and I laugh at this option as we never EVER do that).  What to do??

His dad came home and you know its bad when I have to be the calm and reasonable one.  His dad was MAD.  I had to calm everyone down AND I had to be the voice of reason.   Uh oh.  Voice of reason.  Me.   Okaaaay.  In the end, our son helped clean up the tiny shattered pieces of glass.  He took the broom and vacuum to the garage, and was their for the clean up from start to finish.  We had also called our friends over to help us patch up the back window (btw, thank you for that...you guys SAVED us!).  The window was cleaned up and patched on a Tuesday and by Friday afternoon, there was new glass installed.  600 dollars later, it's fixed.  But now what? Does he pay for it?  He has less than $200.00 in his bank account, and while he won't be able to pay for the whole thing, we do plan on taking him to the bank and making him withdraw at least $150.00 from his account to give to us.   I think it's important to do that, although maybe it seems a bit mean.  Still not sure about that one.  I am hoping that him being involved in the clean up, and eventually paying us $150.00 will help him remember that it's all-sticks-down when the garage is open.  Other than that, if its closed, make ball marks to your hearts content!

Now almost 2 weeks later, its fixed and paid for.  These unexpected expenses are just that...unexpected and unpleasant, but always a part of our lives.  Remember the Disney film "Up"?  I love that movie (and yes, I bawled my eyes out).  In the beginning vignette, we saw the couple putting all their extra money into a jar and they also showed all the unexpected things that happened in life which resulted in them breaking into their savings.  But, in the end, they had a great life, filled with joy, and each other (anyone crying besides me yet??).  I guess its important to expect the unexpected, and just deal as best you can, and move on to the next month and pray that the unexpected is really just a blip in the road that can be easily fixed.