Tuesday came. The only prep I needed was money.
At 3 am on Wednesday, June 24th, I couldn't sleep and decided to try to meditate in my living room. I opened the bedroom door to rain pouring from my kitchen ceiling. A pipe from my hot water heater had burst.
I live in an apartment building and this is actually the second leak this year in this apartment. The previous one was a minor (in retrospect) leak around the patio door during heavy spring rains. It was repaired with minimal impact on my daily life and there was no damage to property.
This time, there was also no personal property damage. However, the entire kitchen had to be removed.
After a shop-vac to remove the bulk of the water, maintenance set up fans and a dehumidifier. 48 hours later, we packed up everything in our kitchen and they demo'd the kitchen.
Due to the layout of the apartment, the plastic containment area they set up had to be accessed whenever we entered or exited the apartment. They didn't set up any barrier to our bedroom, bathroom, or upstairs. This left us with an uninhabitable living space from 6/26 - 7/3.
We have experienced other floods in different apartments in this complex and during the largest (winter 2024), they reimbursed us for hotel costs and insurance covered property damage.
Under new ownership, this time apartment management told us to stay at a hotel and have insurance pay for it. Turns out, it's not a covered loss. My claim presented images of extensive mold and the inadequate containment zone as evidence. Apparently mold isn't one of the insurance company's covered perils. Also, they used my pictures to note termite damage as additional reason for denying coverage.
My spouse and I took this final straw and decided to move out of this hell-hole. Luckily, we found a place that is actually quite an upgrade. But all of this means we have drained much of our savings in less than a week. $1250 for hotel, security deposit for new place + first month's rent in full, pro-rated rent on existing place, dining out more than usual, moving supplies and transport. When it rains it pours.
Earlier this year I was concerned about having money in savings accounts (even though it's in the highest yield savings accounts I can find) because rising interest rates means my money is losing value. But when I needed the money to get myself out of a tough spot, I had it. I feel incredibly grateful and lucky so much more I can't articulate. My spouse and I took a few minutes the other day - after we learned we had been approved at the new place - to focus on our gratitude and process that this might be one of the best days of our lives. After all of the stress of everything else going on, knowing we had an exit was such a relief. If this had happened even a few years prior, we would be forced to stay in this shit-hole. The hotel expenses would have been truly devastating. We aren't rich. But we have been working hard over the last several years to build our savings. Tuesday it paid off.
TLDR: Tuesday came and the prep that helped me the most was savings. Now I need to focus on building it back up.