Just don’t forget to actually set aside what you save each month. Otherwise, it’s easy to spend it and get caught short when something does happen. Learned that one the hard way...
This is me every time—swear I’ll save the difference, then a kid needs new shoes or the dog eats something weird. Higher deductible sounds good until life happens. Still, I’d rather risk it than pay double.
I hear you on the “life happens” part. It’s like every time I think I’ve got a little extra set aside, something random pops up—last month it was my car battery dying out of nowhere, right after I’d convinced myself to bump my deductible up to $1,000 for the savings. Ended up dipping into what I’d meant to save from the lower premium just to get back on the road.
Here’s what finally worked for me: I opened a separate savings account (one of those online ones with no fees) and set up an automatic transfer for exactly the amount I’m saving each month by having the higher deductible. Out of sight, out of mind. If it sits in my main checking, it’s gone—kids’ field trips, surprise vet bills, you name it. But if it’s tucked away somewhere else, at least there’s a fighting chance I’ll have enough if something big happens.
I get why some folks just stick with the lower deductible and pay more upfront—it’s like paying for peace of mind. But for me, as long as I keep that “deductible fund” going, the math works out better over time. Still, there’s always that nagging worry in the back of my head that everything will go wrong at once and drain all my stashes anyway.
Not saying this is foolproof or anything. There are months where even that automatic transfer gets paused because life throws a curveball (or three). But overall, separating those savings has made it way less tempting to spend them on everyday stuff.
Guess it just comes down to how much risk you’re comfortable with and how disciplined you can be about actually saving the difference. For me, having a system in place is the only way it works at all... otherwise, yeah—the money just disappears into the black hole of family expenses before I even notice.
That “out of sight, out of mind” trick is honestly something I’m considering. I’m just starting out with my own policy and the idea of a higher deductible freaks me out a bit, but the savings are tempting.
Did you ever get hit with a big expense before your deductible fund had time to build up? That’s my main worry—like, what if something happens in month two?Guess it just comes down to how much risk you’re comfortable with and how disciplined you can be about actually saving the difference.
That’s a totally valid concern. I actually held off on raising my deductible for almost a year because I was worried about exactly that—having something go wrong before I’d built up the savings buffer. In the end, I set up an automatic transfer to a separate account every month and waited until I had at least the full deductible amount set aside before making the switch. It felt safer that way, even if it meant waiting longer to see those lower premiums. Not everyone has the patience for that, but it helped me sleep better at night.
That’s a really practical approach—waiting until you’ve got the deductible saved up before making the switch. I’m curious, did you look at how much you’d actually save per year with the higher deductible? Sometimes the premium drop isn’t as big as people expect, so I always wonder if it’s worth the wait.