Since taking over the family’s finances when I became a work at home mom and attempting to reign in on our spending and pay off our debt I’ve come to realize just how important it is to prepare for the unexpected.
As important as it is to recognize the day-to-day expenses, it’s also very important to set aside funds for things that just happen. A few months ago my daughter was bit by the family dog. All is fine with her now but at the time I had no idea what our bills were going to look like after our ambulance trip and ER visit.
Lucky for us we put aside funds for emergencies like this and are prepared. And while it was a very scary thing to go through, not having to worry about paying the bills afterwards was a relief.
Money Management Tips
I started to get serious about our emergency preparedness after reading an article online called Women and Money: Why You Need to Take Control Now in the business section of Time Magazine online.
And what I took from the article is that I needed to be smart about handling our finances. I needed buckle down and find out what we really needed to invest in and what we really needed to save.
I know what to budget for day to day planning but what about the unexpected? Luckily I also found an Emergency Savings calculator that helped me determine exactly how much I needed to save each pay period.
Saving For Emergencies
Being able to calculate exactly what we might need saved us in the long run because when the ER bill and ambulance bill came, we were ready! Now we have to prepare ourselves for paying out of pocket for our plastic surgeon. Anything for our little girl.
Try these simple tips and start saving today:
- Decide how much you want to save. If you haven’t already, sit down – along with your significant other – and come up with a plan.
- Find out how much you can afford to put away. Now that you know how much you need to save, calculate your monthly expenses and see what’s left over.
- Automatically transfer funds to savings. Each pay period (or month) set up an auto-transfer for the amount you want to save monthly from your income. That way you don’t even have to think about it!
- Find other ways to save up. What can you give up so you can save today? The daily latte, date night out turns to date night in. There’s always ways to cut corners and save a bit more.
When the time comes, your family will need you the most and your thoughts should be with them, not bills!
Now my emergency was a one time thing and my daughter is healing beautifully (as you can see from the photo above) however there are also bigger emergencies that might happen such as job loss, illness, etc that might require even more financial planning.
Consider sitting down and talking to someone if you aren’t confident in the planning you’ve made to cover these unexpected events that happen in life.
I keep trying to tell my husband we need to start saving money! Everytime we have tried something has happened that we ended up having to use the money. My husband thinks more in the now, about the bills we have, and I think more in the future. He has actually gotten mad at me when I try to save because he says we don’t make enough money to save money. Drives me nuts!
You can never plan enough. When my hubby became ill and didn’t work for almost three years it really affected us, not nearly as much as our co-pays for chemo but having something to falll-back on made the first few months easier. We have never gotten our savings back but are working on it now.
Thanks for the tips! It’s so easy to get caught up with day to day expenses and not plan for those emergencies.
So glad she’s doing better! What a sweetie! It is so important to have an emergency plan. than you for helping spread that message 🙂
We have been married almost 8 years and have never had a savings. I am trying really hard this year to pay off debt and create a savings for the entire family. We are never prepared for an emergency, but I’m trying!
We need a plan of action too! I think people often forget that it’s so important to have money set aside “just in case”
This is definitely something we need to start planning for. I am embarrassed to say we don’t have a particular plan of action, but I know that we have something for a rainy day through savings. One of those topics you don’t want to chat about, but have to so you can be secure in the case something does happen. Thanks for posting.
I have been pondering what we would need to handle an unexpected something. I think we might actually be prepared but I’m hoping nothing happens!
I have no idea what we would do in an emergency honestly. Sometimes just saving for a rainy day can be difficult on our income… but we’re getting there! Thanks for the tips.
I’m pretty sure the gift cards you have stockpiled will come into great use!