Do you have a back up plan ?

**ladytoysdream** · 01-20-2012, 09:45 AM

With the economy the way it is and job security, etc....having a back up plan or two , is a good thing.
So maybe your job is secure but are you ?

What happens if your main bread winnter gets sick or hurt and can't work for awhile ? I hope you have some kind of health insurance. And how would the money keep coming in.

I mention this because my husband got hurt just less than a week ago. He fell on the ice in our driveway. And ended up seeing a orthropedic surgeon and is having a MRI today. Very probably some kind of surgery in the near future. He does have very good health insurance, thank goodness. He has personal/vacation/sick hours built up at work, so that should cover him for just over a month. One of our bills has insurance on it, so it would be paid. A good decent stockpile of food. I think we could go about 3 months before I would be pulling my hair out. Currently a lot of *what ifs* are running through my head.

I plan on building a bigger stockpile this coming year.
No ands ifs or buts. And as soon as his truck payment gets paid off, within the year,
we go after the last one...the house.

**nuisance26** · 01-20-2012, 11:17 AM

~I'm sorry to hear about your hubby's accident. I hope he recovers quickly!
Being debt free and having an Emergency Fund is our back-up plan.
When I was pregnant with #2, DH tore his meniscus at work. He was home almost 3 months and back and forth to PT. Even though I hadn't actually prepared for something like that, between the EF, our debt free status, the health insurance and worker's comp, we never thought about money for a second. I was more annoyed that he was stealing my spotlight and making me work harder during my pregnancy.~

**mombottoo** · 01-20-2012, 11:17 AM

We had a backup plan and thank God we did. DH has been unable to work due to work related disability since 2000. For years we paid for both short and long term disability insurance...the short term covered us until the long term kicked in. We still receive long term disability payments in addition to dh's social security disabiity. The long term makes up the difference between what SSD pays and what he would be making if he were still working.

In the beginning dh had 6 weeks of sick days saved up and 6 weeks of vacation time. That was what held us over until the short term disability kicked in. He never received regular workers comp checks...insurance company was a PITA and we ended up suing them. Was nice getting a lump sum check though, enabled us to pay off our bills and our mortgage

.

I hope everything turns out okay for your dh and you. ((((HUGS))))

**shoiji** · 01-20-2012, 11:51 AM

Hope you DH starts to feel better soon. It really does sound as if everything will be fine for you and your family. With all the preparations and thinking ahead you should be fine.

**oheoh's momma** · 01-20-2012, 11:55 AM

i hope your hubby recovers quickly.. this is what i am really here for to help with a plan b /or even c.....

**Telephus44** · 01-20-2012, 01:20 PM

This is one of the reasons that we choose to be a 2 income family. If one of us loses a job is unable to work, we at least have a second income coming in. Making it on one income wouldn't be easy and we'd have to cut a lot of things, but at least we'd be able to put food on the table and not lose the house.

**ladytoysdream** · 01-20-2012, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Telephus44

This is one of the reasons that we choose to be a 2 income family. If one of us loses a job is unable to work, we at least have a second income coming in. Making it on one income wouldn't be easy and we'd have to cut a lot of things, but at least we'd be able to put food on the table and not lose the house.

YES

When we set up our budget years ago, it was calculated for what hubby made. Not what money I could add to the budget. My last job outside the home, was a couple of years ago.
I make a few extra dollars now and then, and in the summer I do the farmers market. I started doing it this last summer, because of our retirement plans. We need a source for some extra money that I can do. I wanted a headstart on the future. Hubby can work part time in the summer for a farmer as a sub. Which that money is treated as extra and not part of our budget.

**bunnys** · 01-20-2012, 05:58 PM

'll be honest, I have pretty much no plan.

I am a public school teacher and I have sick days in place that have added up so I have maybe 70 or 80 days. That would be approximately a half of a year of school. Then, if I continued to be sick, there is a sick bank that kicks in if I've given one of my sick days to it. (I did.) I have no clue how long that would last.

If I got a terminal illness, after about a year I better hope I'm dead bc then I'd be pretty much screwed. I do have 50-60K in equity in my house so if I sold that I could live another 2 years or so in a apartment I could rent but then I better die--quick!

Man, that would stink. Hope it doesn't happen.

**monkeywrangler71** · 01-20-2012, 06:13 PM

Sorry about your husband, I hope he recovers quickly.

**alotofgooddeals** · 01-20-2012, 07:24 PM

so royally sucks and what i have learned from this last experience....stockpile stockpile stockpile everything...and the most important bill i need to pay is the house payment...we can live of ramen noodles for a while but living outside right now would be very very cold...

**dancemommy** · 01-20-2012, 07:31 PM

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he feels better soon!! My husband is self employed- meaning no paid vacations, etc. So, we purchased disability insurance. It was a must along with life insurance. It is good to think about though. We didn't have it for the longest time and have only had it for a year or so. Good luck!

**ladytoysdream** · 01-20-2012, 07:34 PM

Well he had his MRI late this afternoon. Should have a answer in about 2 working days. When he fell, he didn't break anything. What he did was badly aggravate a knee problem that he has been putting off seeing a doctor for....for at least 6 months or more. Being in pain and walking with a limp somedays because he was way too stubborn to see a doctor.

**brennasmom** · 01-20-2012, 08:59 PM

First off I am sorry to hear your DH injured himself. Hoping he is feeling better soon.

Secondly, what a great question.

We are a 2 income family so hopefully if one of us couldn't work then the other would still be employeed

We have a 6 month emergency fund

We have some items we could sell if we had to

We are debt free except for our house

I try to keep a good pantry stockpile (although currently it is looking a bit sparse) so we could eat from the pantry for a while if necessary

**frugalwarrior2** · 01-20-2012, 10:10 PM

Hope everything comes back good.
-We have excellent ins. incl. good LT and ST ins. and the recommended amt of death benefits but only 1 income.

-Our house may have the 1st mortgage paid off by next Jan and the second 6 months after that

-I have a years stockpile of most foods. and extra of about every dish,appliance,linen and pet food.

-our CC is high and our efund is depleted so that is our 2012 goal. Ds kinda used up a lot of money for college. We said yes when it was realistically NO. He is now is Comm Coll.

-one of the things I have been doing is fixing and replacing things that make the household run
-last year
the mower
car repairs
dish washer
seals around the fridge

this yr.
sewing machines
vaccumn cleaners
air filters

**nodmicks** · 01-20-2012, 10:13 PM

I'm very sorry to hear your dh got hurt. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Our plan is by no means a complete one but we have been through 1 lay off and dh having rotator cuff and knee surgery. I make less than 1/4 of our income.

Our plan that got us through it was the emergency fund, ingenuity and a full freezer. In a longer term situation there is always the option of me finding a fulltime job to go with my part time job if worst case scenario ever hit.