When the unexpected happens…

Sometimes in life things go wrong at the most inopportune moment. One day everything is going your way, you’re happy, you have no stresses, no worries and then the next day things take a turn for the worse.

It may not be something major. I mean you may just bump into someone that you’ve been avoiding for a while or perhaps you forget your credit card payment was due two days ago. Either way, it’s things like this can change our moods and outlook on life pretty quickly.

Although it’s not life changing, at the time it can feel pretty overwhelming and emotional. Sometimes the best laid plans just go out of the window and you have to wing it!

Take my husband and I. Before we had children, we didn’t have much money – well we don’t have much now, but we’re more comfortable now than we have been previously! Our first home was a third floor, two bedroom flat. It was lovely and it suited our needs perfectly at the time.

Our land lady was great. If anything went wrong she wouldn’t hesitate to put things right as soon as she could. I guess that’s one of the perks of renting. If your washing machine breaks down or your oven goes to oven heaven, you don’t have to pay for it, as that’s your landlords responsibility.

Certain things in life though are your responsibility. When my husband and I were trying for a baby, I knew that I wanted to learn to drive. I thought it would be great to give me the freedom of being able to drive our baby wherever we needed to go, instead of having to walk everywhere with a pushchair in all weathers.
I bought a lovely Toyota Yaris. She’s only a two door, but she was a good runner, still is! I’ve had her for around 6 years. She’s 13 years old now, but still has plenty of life left in her. She’s driven us all over the country and has served us well.

We actually recently returned from a family holiday abroad and drove from our home to the airport in her. However the week before we were due to go away, I’d noticed that my car was making a strange noise, which was made worse when I had people sitting in the back of the car.

Turns out the brakes were on their way out. Not exactly ideal the week before you’re going on holiday! I called around a number of different garages to get some quotes and found that the cheapest I could get the brake pads and disks replaced for was £110. It may not sound like much, but it was money that we simply didn’t have.

I looked into a number of different options such as borrowing from family, but I despise doing this! A short term loan from Vivus seemed like the best option for us. Vivus offers just that. A short term loan between £100-£300 with payment terms of up to 41 days.

Thankfully the brakes were fixed quickly and we were able to go off on our way without any further hiccups! We had a great holiday and I was able to relax and enjoy myself, although it went far too quickly!

I think the key to reducing the stress that an unexpected bill can leave you with, is not to panic. To try and stay calm whilst ensuring that you don’t react in the heat of the moment. I guess that’s easier said than done sometimes though!