This was a harder post to write than I thought it would be. At first I was just going to give you a run down of how I would handle a budget buster. You know the usual beg, borrow, side work and as a last resort put it on the card.

It would have gone something like this…

Earlier I tried to get you to think of ways you could deal with a large unexpected expense aka a budget buster. Here is what I would do:

• Find some side work if you’re a painter work on the weekend or evening painting.
• If you’ve been debt snowballing look to your accelerator margin. Maybe you have accumulated enough money there to save the day.
• Maybe you can borrow some money from someone. I don’t like borrowing myself but you better believe I would if I needed to do it. Eat and smile, son. Eat it and smile.
• Etc
• Etc
• As a last resort put it on the card

There probably would have been a few more suggestions but those are the basics. But after thinking about it I realized my suggestions for dealing with budget busters too late. I’m dealing with them after they arrived. And that my friend is not a good move. The best way to handle budget busters is to anticipate their inevitable arrival and plan accordingly.

John the Debt-addled Dude