We budget for groceries and our electric bill. But how often to we budget for life? Oh and life happens. A lot of life happens. And sometimes all at once.

Last week we had a big batch of life thrown right at us. When I took Isaac to his 2-year check up a few weeks ago the doctor heard what he thought was a small heart murmur. He ordered an echocardiogram just to double check.

Before we go any further, everything turned out fine. Isaac does not have a murmur.

However, before Isaac even had the test run we were told we would have to pay our entire deductible. We have high deductible insurance and it was a lot of money. For a minute I thought I was going to have to hand over all this money. And you know what? I didn't panic. Why? Because we are prepared for things like this. We have an emergency fund. We have budgeted for life.

Life happens and we can't stop it.

Kids get sick. Tires blow out. The AC will break and it's always on the hottest day of the year. The sole will fall off your shoe as your walking into work and you will need a new pair of shoes that day. (All of these things have happened to me.)

You have to set aside a little bit of money each week for life.

For example:

If you have a high-deductible insurance plan set aside a few dollars each month to put toward that deductible. If you never use it, roll it over to the next year.

If you know your tires are going to need to be replaced in the next six months and you know it's going to cost you $600 try to save $100 a month.

Set aside money each month if you have to pay for a doctor's visit co-pay.

Don't forget home repairs add up and it's best to set aside some money for small things like a new toilet seat or faucet.

I know this might sound overwhelming, but when you break this up in small chunks it makes it much more manageable.

What about you? How are you budgeting for life?

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