Saving for Emergencies

How Much You Should Have in Your Emergency Savings

Here’s a Dave Ramsey principle we agree with: If you make less than $20,000 per year, aim to have at least $500 in emergency savings. If you make more than $20,000, then aim for at least $1,000.  Once you have paid down debt and can meet all of your other expenses, continue to add to your emergency savings account until you have enough so that you could live without a paycheck for six months.

4 Ways to Quickly Establish Your Emergency Fund

1. What do you have that you can sell? Go through your closet and sell stuff using these types of sites:
   • thredUP
   • Poshmark
   • Amazon
2. Identify areas in your monthly budget where you can reduce spending. Cut or modify expenses like:
   • Cable
   • Unlimited cell phone data
   • Gym memberships
   • Subscription services
3. Commit to meal prepping and eating a bulk of your meals at home.
   • Create weekly menus and choose ingredients that can be used in multiple meals
   • Consider visiting a local food pantry to reduce your grocery bill. Search Auntbertha.com for local pantries
   • Shop with a grocery list. Purchase your main food items in bulk whenever possible
   • Take a day to prep your meals for the week
   • Buy some reusable containers to store your prepped food
4. Fuel your emergency fund by picking up a side-hustle. Check out these opportunities:
   • Become a Supplemental Instruction Leader at ACC
   • Look for seasonal and part-time jobs on ACC’s Career Services Job Board
   • Make deliveries around your class schedule through Favor
   • Get paid to test apps
   • Market your skills such as animation, voice over, and photography online using sites like Fiverr

Four ways not enough for you?  Here’s a video with ELEVEN ways to build your emergency fund!