I'm having trouble getting enthused about socking money away in a general Emergency Fund.
It's pretty easy for me to accept putting money away for specific purposes, like the property taxes or car repairs. I can see the purpose of the savings in my mind's eye.
But "emergencies" is so general, and the need to have the money on hand feels remote. It's been impossible for me to throw every extra penny toward building it up as Dave Ramsey recommends for "step 3"--it's even been uncomfortable trying to make myself get a small, steady monthly amount in there.
So I want to start keeping track of when it's come in handy, or would have if there'd been enough money in there.
March, Emergency vet visit - $460
April, PSE&G budget bill balancing - $102
Jan-March, costs of Indian meal moth infestation (airtight food containers and traps) - $60
That's a total of $622, or about $207 a month. I've been begrudgingly putting $100 or less a month into the EF account, and actually had to pay the vet bill out of the car/house repair money.
So, as of today I'm decreasing the amount automatically going into New Car Savings, and increasing the amount going into the EF. And I'll keep reminding myself here of why that's important.
Emergency Fund
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
April 2nd, 2007 at 01:07 pm 1175519277
April 2nd, 2007 at 01:11 pm 1175519510
so i tried to put some numbers behind it, to at least get us started. i told him i'd like to have enough saved to pay the deductibles on our car and homeowners insurance, plus emergency room co-pays for each of us. this comes to about a thousand total. when he brought up that we don't have to actually have to pay the deductibles, i agreed but said that was just an easy number to compare to, not necessarily what the money would be used for.
at this point he seems ok with this method...
April 2nd, 2007 at 01:18 pm 1175519894
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April 2nd, 2007 at 05:42 pm 1175535761
Good for you! Appears you are making progress adding to your totals!!
April 2nd, 2007 at 07:19 pm 1175541564
April 4th, 2007 at 03:32 am 1175657556