In my last post, I committed to building an emergency fund equal to three times my monthly bills. But where will I get that money from? And where to stash it once I have it?
To answer those questions I decided to rip off the Band-Aid. I looked at my monthly expenses in mint.com to see where I was overspending. I’m in good shape overall, but there are clear places where I’m going over budget. (Turns out iTunes cost a lot more than 99 cents when you repeat the process hundreds of times over…)
After looking at my monthly expenses for obvious winners, I looked for some clever ideas. This article—How to Save $5,000 This Year—had a nice ring to it.
The article reminded me to:
- Never pay full price for entertainment.
- Go to the grocery store once a week to avoid impulse buys.
- Boost my car insurance deductible.
- Drive less aggressively (woops).
- Revisit my cell phone bill to look for savings.
Those takeaways aren’t the panacea for my problems, but they got my creative juices flowing, and will help me carve out room for my emergency fund slowly over time.