https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:07:33 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund/page/2#post-2416500 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:31:09 +0000 snowjewelz 2416500@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have savings that are invested, so we don't really touch that, but a small % can be cashed out at any time so I do count that towards emergency. Other that that, I keep a certain amount in our savings account that can be taken out whenever as emergency. We for sure have probably 5-6 months worth of living expenses that can be cashed out right away. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund/page/2#post-2416476 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:21:39 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2416476@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We really need to get more focused at savings and also budgeting for the random stuff that comes up. We do well and then get hit with something and it drops down. </p> <p>Right now we maybe have 3 months of my gross income. Our jobs are pretty stable though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund/page/2#post-2416465 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:13:19 +0000 Bao 2416465@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: we have tried that, and will keep trying! DH works 3 jobs, so obviously not just for fun...to make ends meet. We definitely live within our means (no CC's or significant debt) but saving is so difficult. We get a nice tax refund, so that will go into savings. Extra money also goes in... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416451 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:07:54 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 2416451@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have an emergency fund that is about 2 months of living expenses. We'd like it to be higher, but we had over $1000 in unexpected car repairs (boo), so we'll build it up again when I go back to work. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416450 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:05:34 +0000 winniebee 2416450@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>To help save, could you do something like take $ out of the paycheck automatically so that you won't miss it? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416447 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:54:50 +0000 catomd00 2416447@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We like to have 1 year salary for each of us but We only have about 9 months right now and will prob decrease since we are buying s second home soon. DH has had a few episodes of lay offs in the past and so it's super important to us even though we can get by on one salary if we have to. </p> <p>I'll add it's easy for us to build it because DH is in sales so all his commission gets dumped into savings. I couldn't do it with just my salary of would take forever!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416438 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:46:30 +0000 mediagirl 2416438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. It's 6 months. We have separate savings accounts, too though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416432 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:37:44 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2416432@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We use a stock account that we can quickly liquidate as our emergency fund. It's about 2.5 months of gross income. That would likely last us 4-5 months of expenses, but if we cut back on must-fund line items like retirement the emergency fund may take us further. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416341 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 01:08:04 +0000 daniellemybelle 2416341@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, it is at about 2 months of regular income right now. We want to get it to 3 months + but we are working on paying off debt first. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416296 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 23:00:03 +0000 Mrs.KMM 2416296@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't have a separate amount from our general savings. And I also have mutual funds that we could quickly and easily liquidate if needed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416097 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:54:04 +0000 skipra 2416097@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. It's at about 6 months expenses now. We had to dip in for some medical bills early last year because DS had surgery and we have a high deductible plan and not enough in the HSA at that point. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416093 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:51:22 +0000 catgirl 2416093@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a separate account that would cover us for about a year. It's more than most find necessary but since I stay at home with DD we wanted to be sure that we would be okay if DH lost his job. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416084 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:42:34 +0000 Anagram 2416084@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. Enough for a year or so. But I'm not going to lie-- it's all money Dh saved prior to our marriage. I suck at saving large quantities of money. :silly: </p> <p>Earlier this year, he put quite a bit into the house I bought before marriage. Luckily, the market is good in that area and I was able to pay it all back into his savings when I sold. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416083 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:42:07 +0000 MOMTOLITTLEB 2416083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We only have about 3 months of expenses but that's because we bought a house last year and put even more into it. I'd like to have a lot more so we're working on it. My in laws would also lend us money as needed so that's a bit of a safety net that we don't plan to ever use. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416078 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:25:21 +0000 mrsrain 2416078@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, but it's s work in progress. Only about $609 right now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416053 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:57:48 +0000 sera_87 2416053@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did, but we had to draw on it this summer/fall. One of my priorities this year is to build it back to where it was. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416013 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:24:44 +0000 oliviaoblivia 2416013@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a couple years. DH started a business last year and we wanted to make sure we were covered in case it failed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416012 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:24:35 +0000 Keybee 2416012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have one but we recently dipped into it. Our goal this year is to get it back to at least 3 months of expenses. We are following Dave Ramsey's plan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2416009 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:19:47 +0000 sarac 2416009@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>6 months. Never before been touched. We're just about to draw a little of it to pay an huge and unexpected tax bill, so all of the next month or two's savings will go towards rebuilding it.</p> <p>This is a separate account that we never access. I built it from a big tax refund a few years ago. We'd had a decent amount in savings, and then we suddenly had to make a huge an unexpected repair to our house. It totally drained our savings and most of our checking, and we had a very tight and scary 6 weeks afterwards. After that I made sure that we had a big chunk set aside in case of another big unexpected thing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415996 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:07:58 +0000 DesertDreams88 2415996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bao: yes, our emegency fund is separate from savings. It's changed over the years, but normally we have:<br /> - Joint checking account<br /> - Sinking fund (for irregular but anticipated expenses)<br /> - Savings fund with a purpose (car, house, etc)<br /> - Emergency fund</p> <p>We have no retirement savings because we have pensions that take 11% of our income, plus our priority is paying down our 50K of student loans. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415915 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:33:02 +0000 DillonLion 2415915@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes! We have been following Dave Ramsey's plan and are nearly done with saving up our emergency fund. He recommends 3-6, but we are paranoid people, so we are saving a full 6 months which would cover all bills/expenses if we both lost our income at the same time. </p> <p>We've had so much success following his program so far! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415897 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:18:23 +0000 birdofafeather 2415897@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yes, we do. it's about 3 months of our current take home pay, but we could easily push it to 6 months of living expenses if both of us were unemployed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415893 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:11:56 +0000 IRunForFun 2415893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have enough in savings for probably 6 to 8 months of living expenses plus about a 2-month cushion in checking. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415890 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:05:07 +0000 Synchronicity 2415890@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've got enough in savings (separate from investments/retirement fund) to see us through maybe a year of living expenses if we were careful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415885 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:02:13 +0000 catlady 2415885@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we have one. It would cover 4-5 months of expenses. It's separate from our savings account. We never touch the emergency fund. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415882 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:57:24 +0000 looch 2415882@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we do. It's enough to cover at least 6 months expenses. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415881 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:55:36 +0000 gingerbebe 2415881@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@IRunForFun: we have done it both ways - either with a separate savings account or just keeping an agreed upon amount in checking at all times as a floor, but with interest rates getting better, having a separate account makes more sense. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415878 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:52:55 +0000 Truth Bombs 2415878@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@IRunForFun: it doesn't have to be separate but it should be cash. You don't want your emergency fund to be invested and then be forced to liquidate it at a bad time if you need money when the market is doing poorly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415870 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:45:30 +0000 yellowbird 2415870@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are down to about 3 months expenses after I had to take almost a month off of work for an unexpected surgery. I already took 3 months off unpaid for maternity leave as well so I only worked about 8 months this year! Luckily I saved almost enough to cover my maternity leave so we did t have to use the emergency fund.</p> <p>Our emergency fund is a separate savings account. We also have accounts for vacation, large purchases, kids. Then the truly untouchable money in our retirement accounts.</p> <p>Before taking so much time off of work, I had our savings deducted automatically every time we were paid. Now we are in survival mode until our normal income starts back up. No extra savings at the moment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-have-an-emergency-fund#post-2415869 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:43:55 +0000 MenagerieMama 2415869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do. It's probably about 3 mo worth if we were pretty careful with things (and stopped extra loan payments) but definitely not x3 of our regular monthly income. </p>