Surprises arise in life all the time, maybe your battery on your car dies (usually on a school run), or the washing machine blows up, that sort of thing. Building an emergency fund purposely for these sorts of emergencies is key. Lets face it we all have times that this happens but if we have an emergency fund this takes the stress out of having to find the money quickly.
Last May we had neither an emergency fund nor any savings and a credit card that needed paying. I had a couple of large bills come in and I was in panic mode. Thats when I stumbled on Dave Ramsey and his baby steps. Really I thought, what harm could there be in trying it, couldn't be any worse than where I was at - so onto the first step we went.
Baby step 1
$1000 Emergency Fund.
Do whatever you can to get together $1000. Do it as fast as possible.
I sold things I had laying around the house on a Facebook swap sell page for my local area. I also sold a whole stack of craft items also on a craft specific Facebook sell page. Never underestimate the power of these pages. If you aren't a fan of selling on these sorts of pages then there is also "Gumtree" and lastly you can try Ebay!
Other ways to get some quick cash are:
* have a garage sale
* offer to do some babysitting
* offer to do some ironing
* offer your services mowing lawns/gardening
* cut back your grocery bill temporarily
* no spending on non essentials
* recycle your soft drink cans/bottles - here in SA we get 10 cents back for each bottle and can.
This Emergency Fund is exactly that - for Emergencies. Put it in an account that is accessible when needed but not too accessible that you use it for eating out or other non essentials.
This is your peace of mind as you head into Baby step 2 - thats in the next post.
Chat Soon
Melissa
Chat Soon
Melissa
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