I will say that although I like D.R.'s philosophy I have found that 1000. E.F. suffers too much fluctuation for our family of four to feel steadily safe. I have rebuilt it (again) and plan to keep no less than $1500. in there for small emergencies. I personally think that 2010 is going to be a "ride to remember" as much or more than 2009.
I will say that although I like D.R.'s philosophy I have found that 1000. E.F. suffers too much fluctuation for our family of four to feel steadily safe. I have rebuilt it (again) and plan to keep no less than $1500. in there for small emergencies. I personally think that 2010 is going to be a "ride to remember" as much or more than 2009.
Maybe we can add what changes we did to be able to add to the emergency fund. For example, I got an unexpected gift of money and want to add a part of it to my emergency fund
They gave my DH's 4% of his salary back they took starting in FEB. It's how we got xmas paid in cash too. Also paid off my road assessment my DEAR neighbors got for me 6 years ago.(51% vote to pave the road). We live in a township.
I'm in. I need to build my BEF to $1,000.
We do not have a cookie jar. We have a locked box in which I am the only one with a key and DH is the only one who can reach it (He is very tall and I'm short). Without one another, we cannot get into the BEF.
Ok so we have interest in having a "grow your emergency fund challenge".
So - rules:
Only one, really, that I can think of as necessary - do we simply count ADDITIONS to the emergency fund for 2010 or do we start with current balances and go from there?
The more I think on it, the more I think we should go with additions - so even if you have 30k in the bank and add no more, you'd add nothing to this challenge (nor would you really need to).
Sounds good, count me in. I think most of us understand the concept, but it wouldn't hurt to define the terms and rules upfront....here's what it is, here's how it works.
I'm in. I like the idea of having the monthly and end of the year total aswell. And also love the idea of writing how we found that extra money to put in the emergency fund. Can't wait to get started!
I think it would not hurt to define emergency fund. I have the first $1000 but also have other "goals" to save towards. I need to seperate my EF from general savings. It is too easy to access.
I think I may join this challenge as well! I'm quite the joiner for this coming year! Yay! LOL...I put my EF and saving together, I kinda consider them one in the same. If I need something in an emergency my savings will pay for it...other than that, the savings doesn't get touched. Although I am saving money for a house it's not in the near future, so I will just contribute what I can each month to that account. I will keep track of it on here though...I do have a seperate envelope for my EF and savings, so I can determine which is which before depositing it into the bank! I may figure out a better system for this, but I want in...I'll try to get my act together!
Count me in I don't have an ef so this will be good for me. I am thinking i will set up a separate account for it not sure though because i do have a savings account i could put it into.
An EF I'm at ease with is in place, so I would notbe participating. But when I was building it, I calculated the percentage -- "I now have 84% of the goal" sort of thing. In a way that was more motivating than thinking in dollar amounts.
For those who don't want to post amounts, that could be an option.
If the sky falls - who knows, I maybe joining after all! So I just thought I would chime in anyway.
I would be interested in peoples use of BEF if they want to share. For instance I had just rebuild mine when we had a $300. vet emergency. We handled it w/o dipping in but at the time standing at the emergency clinic I was wondering if $1000. would be spent that night. We have an animal food,litter,normal vet care plan but sometimes.. And like I said only if they want to share??
My definition of my BEF is a baby emergency fund that I am attempting to build to $1000.00 per Dave Ramsey.
I have "built it several times". It has gotten used several times.
The last time it went to buy a new battery for the car and to fix the furnace when it went out with no warning.
Both were an "emergency" in my book because they happened suddenly and without warning and it was all we had to pay for it with. Our only credit card was destroyed by us in October when we split, so it no longer exists.
Should we have a fund in place for car repair and appliance repair? Yes, we should. BUT we have a hard enough time right now getting the BEF in place. So ...
I put money into the BEF this month because we had an "extra" paycheck for the month. So all the regular bills are being paid, some Christmas bought, and the rest goes into the BEF. As long as dh gets overtime, we will continue to contribute to it. When the overtime quits, we will think of something else.
Just an example. Tonight I was looking on line at our banking. We had a few more dollars than what I totalled in my head until next pay day....so I transferred 25 to savings. What savings??? gah!! Trying though.
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