Emergencies happen. You never know when. But they always seem to cost money that you don’t have. And sometimes they come in rapid-fire succession. It really seems like when it rains it pours. And it sure has been pouring at my house lately!
Two weeks ago one of my cats fell ill very suddenly. She had to spend a night at the emergency vet, which didn’t come cheap. Thankfully she recovered and I get to continue loving and petting her for the foreseeable future. And before my credit card even had a chance to cool down, last week I went to wash dishes after dinner and discovered there was no hot water. When I ventured into the basement to investigate, I found the worst possible scenario. My aging water heater had died a very ugly death, bathing my basement in the last of its lukewarm water. The next day I found myself writing a very large check to a plumber to cover a new water heater and its installation. Within a week and a half I had incurred two very significant unexpected expenses.
Situations like what I just faced are exactly why it is so important to have money saved for an emergency. In a perfect world I would have had a designated emergency fund in a savings account at the ready to deal with all of this. But my world is rarely perfect. This year demonstrates that over and over and over again. So I had to scramble around to several different bank accounts and investment accounts to cobble together the money to cover these expenses. But the money was there. Thank goodness.
It may seem impossible at this point in your life to build an emergency fund. But like anything else, it’s overwhelming if you start by looking at the end goal. The trick to success is to start small. I often think of this old adage: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Starting an emergency fund is exactly the same. One bite at a time. Five dollars here. Twenty dollars there. Empty the coin jar. Clean the couch cushions. The random $10 bill in the pocket of the coat you last wore in February. Each of these goes into the designated account that you don’t touch except for in emergencies—preferably one that doesn’t have an ATM card. And you have to acknowledge that something you WANT rather than NEED is not an emergency. Then the account balance builds when you aren’t paying attention. You go on with life and add the stray money when you can. Next thing you know you have $100. Then $500. Then $1,000. Then enough to cover a sick pet and a new water heater all within a week and a half. And then the rebuilding starts again.
Do you have an emergency fund? If not, it’s time to start one.