(via Flickr/401K)
One of my goals this year is to have an emergency fund. Although this is common financial advice, many of us think about having one but never set a plan of action.
An emergency fund is usually three to six months of expenses that help us react well when we have an emergency.
I believe in starting with baby steps. What if we get started by building one with at least $500 in six months? Let’s start small!
Here are 3 tips to get started with your emergency fund:
1. Skip that latté once a week. I love a good coffee just like you but once a week, I skip the coffee shop and put that money in a savings account, or even an envelope. Imagine how far $3 can go! In 6 months that’s $78 saved!
2. Save at least a $5 every other week. We all have a set amount in our heads for those “I want it and it doesn’t cost that much” items. Well, in my case that’s about $5 every other week. In a few months you save another $65!
3. Use electronic coupons services like SavingStar and Upromise. These services give you the option to select products you think you’ll buy via “e-coupons”. They are attached to your loyalty card and as soon it registers the purchase of that product you can expect to have the value of the e-coupon reimbursed. Once you hit the threshold, that’s money that can help build toward your emergency fund.
Yoly Mason writes about frugality and savings tips and tricks in her popular Spanish written blog Cuponeando.net.
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