Importance of an Emergency Fund Strikes Again!

Unexpected expenses...and the Importance of an Emergency Fund

Once again, our emergency fund is going to be depleted before we can rejoice over the fact that we actually managed to save SOME money!
Over the weekend, I happened to look after R. pulled away from the garage to see a puddle of motor oil on the garage floor.

The mechanic suspects that it's the timing belt and the seals near it (?)but we will know for sure in two days when R can finally take it in on his day off.

The expected costs? Around $500 or more....depending on what other things need to be replaced. It is a 1992 used Toyota Camry that has seen 300,000 miles with four previous owners. It is still going strong despite having been in a couple of bad crashes and looking like a frankenstein car. We hope that the cost will not be over $1,000 but it might be.

I guess we definitely need to save more than the current emergency fund amount to be comfortable with expenses such as this. It just takes so long to save for us, considering our disposable income is minute at this moment. I can't help but feel frustrated with taking six months to save $1,000 to just see it poof in a day.