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A few days ago, we went to the car to go shopping, and I was surprised when the doors wouldn’t open with the remote key. I pressed a few times to make sure, and it really wasn’t working. I then opened the doors, and was surprised when the power unlock wasn’t working, either.
I then began to suspect that the battery was dead. I turned the keys all the way, and the motor didn’t crank. I opened one of the interior lights, and it turned on but only very faintly, like a flashlight whose battery is almost out of juice. Yep, the battery was dead!
I didn’t get how that could happen. I had just had the car inspected a couple of weeks ago, and they said that the battery and cables were fine. I checked to see if I had left any of the lights on: nope, my headlights were off, and the interior lights were all off. What could have happened?
I began to worry that maybe the battery was finished, or the alternator was no longer charging the battery. I wouldn’t expect a battery to just die like that, and if the power system was failing surely the inspection would have noticed.
Well, I went upstairs, Googled about batteries for a few minutes, noticed somebody saying something along the lines of “even if you think there was no battery drain, maybe a trunk light was open.” I go back downstairs, and sure enough, the trunk was not completely closed. :S I usually only drive on the weekends, so a few days of that was enough to drain the battery.
So, I was happy that my battery and alternator were probably fine, but I was disappointed that I was stranded. Unfortunately, neither of my neighbours had a cable and neither did a friend. I was planning to take a long bus or subway trip to the department store the next day to buy a booster pack when I found out that my girlfriend’s parents had a booster pack that they weren’t using, and yes, I could borrow it. 😉
Things didn’t end up too badly, but I was inconvenienced and embarrassed because I didn’t have a plan B. What if I had something important to attend and I was stuck? I could have avoided this mess by closing the trunk, but I also could have been prepared by having jumper cables or a battery boost handy.
This kind of thing applies a lot in life, and in personal finance:
- What if I lose my job and my main source if income dries up?
- What if I have a sudden unexpected bill of $1,000 tomorrow?
- What if mortgate rates jump up 3%?
Do you have a plan B in place? Are you prepared if things don’t quite work out as expected?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, as well as any embarrassing stories of your own. 😉
P.S. Happy winter solstice tomorrow!
We have been working on building a plan B for the last while. It really isn’t an overnight thing. It takes some time to form. Currently we are boosting our emergency fund so that we have a resource to pull from if things go array. We also keep up to date on our skills so that if the job market changes we have things to offer. We are also working on paying down or mortgage faster so that we can be debt free sooner.
@prairieecothrif Agreed it takes some time, and I like that you are keeping up to date on your skills as that is also very important! Diversification in all aspects of life is key.
The worst would be getting stuck outside in -20 degree weather due to a bad battery!