But what if you had an emergency savings account and it blew up, considering this past year held a chock-full of emergencies. Don’t you worry! You are not alone. And you can build back your savings ASAP. The good news? You don’t have to compromise your lifestyle or even squeeze the life out of your checking account.
A Win-Win for Your ‘Interest’
If you want to build your emergency savings, from scratch, you will need all the help you can get. Especially from your savings account. So, choose a savings account that will help you win. By “win” we mean, pick a bank that will offer higher interest rates on savings accounts. And you will do that because your savings will grow faster there. Some banks even have cool features that will push you to save more. Some banks allow you to schedule regular transfers from checking to savings. That way savings will seem less painful because the money goes directly from your checking account to your savings, effortlessly we might add. The best part is you won’t even miss it.
Challenge Yourself
Push yourself to try a savings challenge. Saving money doesn’t have to suck. If you love spending money you should love saving it as well. It’s not easy, we know. So, turn saving money into a game. If you’re trying to reduce your cussing, maintain a cuss jar and put in a dollar every time you cuss. You might just end up having a lot of money if you’re a regular sweary person—but at least saving money out of it! LOL. Your cuss jar will even come in handy in the event of uncertainty. You can even save yourself a penny by taking on the weather-Wednesday challenge. where each Wednesday you put the dollar amount equal to your city’s high temperature into your savings. There’s plenty more where that came from.
Stay on Track
Maintain an easy budget to get you started. That way you can keep better track of your money. Controlling finances is easier said than done. It’s not impossible though! There are a ton of ways to make it happen. The simplest one would be to use cash and keep track of how much you spend. Digitally, spending hundreds is made easy with a few clicks and unless you set up alerts it is less noticeable. So go to the nearest ATM, pull out some cash for the week and use what you’ve got. It will give you a better sense of your cash flow. Whatever is remaining of the lot, put it into an emergency savings account. Keep adding to it. The more the merrier.
Shrink Your Subscriptions
Are you a Netflix person, or Disney+? Pick one! Stick to it. Every streaming service on the block seems like a good idea, now that you have access to “all” your favorite shows. But, pick your favorite and cancel the rest. You don’t need all of them. Moreover, you’ll be wasting a lot of money on subscriptions. The same goes for services like Apple Music and Spotify. Have a heart-to-heart with yourself and choose which subscription has more to offer. Your emergency savings will thank you later.
Emergency Fund the Extras
You see any extra cash anywhere—put in your emergency savings! If you are in the season of tax returns, dump your earnings into your emergency savings. Fight the impulse to make a big purchase. Pretend that extra money doesn’t exist.
Negotiate, Persist, Renegotiate, Repeat
Renegotiate your debt if you want to free up money for your emergency fund. If you’re paying down your credit card or tackling your student loans, call your lender to negotiate your payback terms. You can set up a repayment plan that works better for you and your budget.
Don’t Stop, Keep Building
Well, you did it. You managed to cut down expenses and re-save ad refund your emergency savings. But just because you managed to restart an emergency saving, don’t stop there. Your circumstances can change overnight through marriage or the birth of a child, etc. Your monthly expenses might increase as a result. The ideal six months’ worth of expenses you originally saved may no longer cover up. So, don’t stop. Keep going!
