This post is by contributing writer Stacey Meyer Lane
Have you ever had an emergency fund? Maybe you just had a financial emergency and now your existing fund is depleted.
I am a firm believer in having one. Over the years, being able to withdraw funds instead of going into debt has made some stressful money problems become solvable.
After the whirlwind of financial debacles over the past 5 months. our emergency fund balance is under a $100. I have been researching and brainstorming ways to save money. I have been researching and brainstorming ways to earn money.
Dave Ramsey has a 9 Step Plan to get you thinking about saving money. My problem with this plan for saving money is that we already gave up the easy suggestions.
- We don’t have cable
- We don’t have a car payment
- We don’t eat out
- We always pack our lunches
These are the ideas and choices we have made to save money. Some of them were painful to make. I hope sharing this offers encouragement and spurs on your own ideas.
After paying off our medical bills I hope we can re-establish our emergency fund.
Funding Our Emergency Fund
I took out our most recent budget and began poring over our spending.
Ok, it seems my coffee habit had gotten a little fancy…I had to stop buying K cups for the Keurig machine. Instead I borrowed a French press from a friend. Saved me $30 a month.
Groceries are a huge line item in our budget. For one week we decided to eat only what was on hand, in our pantry and freezer. We did buy milk and some fruits and vegetables for the first week. Then the second week we ate simple $5 meals. Money Saving Mom has a list of 52 meatless meals. Saved me $150 for the month.
We planned a weekend to stay home to help with the vehicle gas bill. Living 20 to 30 miles from most of our activities does create huge fuel consumption. Saved me $25.
A friend did offer me a house-cleaning job. Every other Friday I spend 2 hours cleaning her home. This added $60 a month to the emergency fund.
We decided as a family to simplify Christmas this year. We made a rule that our Christmas presents must be hand-made, using items already found in the house. (I do believe this family project will turn into another opportunity to share in a blog post.) I am not sure we will save money but it will definitely keep us from being tempted to go into debt.
I am skipping Christmas cards this year. I usually take a fun family photo with a scripture verse on it. But skipping for one year will save us $75 in printing 125 photo cards and buying postage stamps.
I am growing my hair long, so no need to pay for haircuts. Saves me about $20 every 7 weeks. I already cut my husband’s and boys’ hair.
Being able to save almost $300 dollars in a month, with a monthly take-home pay of less than $2,000, is a challenge. I hope by Christmas to have our emergency fund back over $1,000.
Are you working on establishing an emergency fund? Do you have suggestions or ideas for how to add to one?
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