The saga of my best friend and her financial situation continues, unfortunately. I share to vent, use her as an example of what not to do, and for those us who have it together to find a some understanding and compassion.

This is the friend with bats in the attic...third time in three years. Technically, they do not have the funds to remove them. However, they have decided to open a credit card to pay for the $2,000 extensive repair. They cut up their cards a few months ago, when the took out a 401K loan to pay off their debt. Right now the friend doesn't know how she will make the payment. Yikes!!

To make matters worse, she called me last night to tell me that they did some van repairs to the tune of $1200. I assume also put on the credit card. There were many things in need of repair, but they only did the critical ones. She said she broke down, flipped out at work. She is beside herself with despair. She does not have the money.

As my title suggests, they have no emergency fund. They never have. They so need one for times like this. I know I have said this before, but I truly believe an emergency fund is the building block to financial freedom. It doesn't even have to be a big one to start with. Dave Ramsey suggests $1000 to start. I'm in agreement. It's a good start to changing the behavior from spending every last penny to saving a little for the unexpected. My friend and her husband need to change their behavior. Fast!

Luckily, I am seeing signs that she is willing to make some changes. She declined to send her daughter to an out of state camp, which would have cost $800. She has put a bug in her husband's ear to get a part time job (she already has one). She also wants them to consider selling their fifth wheel camper which they purchased three years ago for cheap. They actually could make a profit on it! (Side note: even though the camper was cheap, they had to trade in a one year old truck for a larger truck that could handle the load. Ugh!)

The new credit card statement changes have really opened her eyes to the amount of interest they are paying. I was actually a bit shocked that this was new information to her. I obviously take knowledge about compound interest for granted. Oops!

She is sharing her frustrations, but not exactly asking for help. I so would love to get my hands on their financial particulars and work out a plan for them. I really would. I'm sure I would learn quite a bit, too.