We are trying to build a cash reserve for emergencies. We are saving a little ahead of schedule, but I think it will still take us about two years to get three or four months worth of living expenses saved up for.
How long did/will it take you?
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@jedeve: we have never been able to get there
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I've been saving ever since I started working so by the time I got married I already have enough for both of us. In this stage of our lives though (after getting married, buying a house, etc) it's so hard to grow that savings! I'm just trying with all my might not to dip into it!
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We just started making a real effort. Seems like it'll never happen!
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We live fairly close to the bone and save as much as we can. It would take about a nine months to save 6 months of expenses.
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We have about 2.5 months right now. It's taken us about 1.5 years to get there. It's been hard to get past the 2.5 mark though!
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Until we are done with DCP it wont ever happen - but after DCP then we will have a lot more money that we can save!
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If it were just my salary we were talking about----um..never?
Between paying almost $2000 a month in daycare, plus my commuting costs, student loans, food for our family and LOs clothes, diapers and wipes, and gear, and upkeep on the house I own that is a rental, my salary is basically completely gone each month.
I think my husband probably already has 4-5 months saved up. He's saves an Ok amount each month (as long as something major doesn't come up like needing a new washer/dryer) and he saved his whole bonus this year.
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Once we have all of our debt paid off, it will free up a bunch and it will be our number one goal to grow that savings to 6 months of expenses. We plan to do it in about a year, but only because we have no lives and do very little fun stuff until it's done. Luckily we are already used to it as we work to pay off all our debt. We should be done with that in 2 years
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@Mamaof2: Yea I think we may enter a phase here in the next two years that that money just isn't there. We've had to slowly eat into it for emergencies and with double daycare for the next two years, its just not going to grow like it used to. Unless of course one of us magically gets a raise!
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At our current saving rate, it would take 10-12 months to save up 6 months living expenses. If we were in a bind and had to save up fast, and cut retirement savings, we could do it in 4-6 months.
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About a year, we are working on it but want to pay off our debt first. So we are focusing on that before savings. I never know if that's the right decision, but we figured if we did lose a job less debt to pay on would be better.
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It takes us three months to save one month's expenses - so that'd be 9-18 months to save 3-6 months expenses.
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@LuLu Mom: We're kind of doing both at the same time too. Although I think my priority is cash on hand, so we don't have to go in to debt if our roof was to cave in or something.
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Probably the rest of forever
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It took us about 4 months because once we paid off debt we could love off one income and I also got a performance bonus. We're now saving up for a down payment on a house which had been taking a year and we're not even at our goal yet! Having the emergency fund definitely helps with my stress level. Good luck!
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Maybe a year for us. DH has some scandalous school loans so we can't save as much as we want right now.
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@jedeve: We do have a small cash reserve, but it should be bigger. Money stresses me out!
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When I was pregnant with #1 we knew I was going to be a SAHM so we took all of my paycheck and created the start of our emergency fund. It was also a good way to adjust our spending and budgets in preparation for only having one income.
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About 99 more years or so.
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We aren't there yet. But we haven't paid off most of our debt either. I don't doubt that we will get there, but it very well may not happen while I am in school.
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I don't know if we'll ever be there. We just started really trying to get our finances in check -- we're budgeting, trying to stick to Dave Ramsey's baby steps & other basic principles, and I've started using YNAB. We have a one month cushion in a savings account, and we have a month cushion on YNAB. Our extra money is going to debt, and then we'll probably have another baby, so I don't know when/if we'll ever build a bigger cushion.
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It took us like 1.5 years. We had a full 6 months saved, but have used some in the last month since moving. We have about 5 months currently.
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did it slowly over several years without real effort (mostly before we were married and then tried a little harder before TTC). we're thankful we have it as we've buckled the boot straps a lot more in the last two years.
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It took us a year to get six months, but we literally lived like college students at that time!
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We are already there but it would take 3-6 months for us to save it from scratch. When we bought our house we chose one priced such that we could pay for everything (mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc) only using his salary. By doing so, all the money from my paychecks is saved.
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