I’ve had that doomsday budget ready for many years. Other than the lease on our car, we have no debt and I always have enough cash to get out of that lease if we have to.

It’s the unexpected stuff that wrecks budgets. Medical expenses as we age. Sudden disability (that happened to my wife twenty years ago). Stuff happens. We try to keep enough slack in the budget to absorb it, but it can be too much when more than one mini disaster arrives at once.

As we say around here, it could be worse and it may well be, so keep things tight.