In the previous two articles we talked about how set up your emergency fund, where to save your money at, and today I am going give you some quick tips on loading up your emergency fund fast.
Before I dive into them I do want to point out that some of these tips will be easier to do than others. In fact you may even be doing some of these things. I am also assuming that you have no money in your savings to put toward your emergency fund for those of you who may say they don’t have no money. This post is designed to get you thinking outside the box.
Anyways on to the tips…
- Sell the big toys and things around home. You may have things you don’t use around your home that could create a little cash but you may also have some big toys around home. For example I have a couple of snowmobiles and a timeshare. I recently just sold one snowmobile and pumped up my emergency fund with an extra $1000. This was actually hard for me to do though because it was my wife’s wedding gift.
- Down grade your vehicle. Do you have a big gas guzzling of a beast for a vehicle? Think about selling it off and buy something used for just a few thousand dollars. This could add big money to your emergency fund. Remember I didn’t say this would be easy.
- Divert money from your 401k. I’m not saying take money out of your 401k or retirement plan but divert it before it gets there for a short time to build up an emergency fund. However there is one danger in this. Don’t get caught up in spending this money and once you have what you need go back to putting it in your 401k again.
- Down grade your cable. Cutting back or even cutting off the cable can save big bucks quick. With the average cable bill around $50 a month this would be a great way to save an extra $600 a year.
- Down size your home. Do you have a home bigger than you really need? Is it hard to make the mortgage payments? Downsizing your home to something a bit smaller could add probably the biggest chunk to your emergency fund. With the right buyer you could get a few thousand dollars to several thousand dollars.
- Cut off the cell phones. Remember the days before cell phones? How did we communicate with others? Even with out cell phones life will go on. Cut off your cell phones and you’ll save big with around $80 to a $100 a month or more. If that’s not possible consider getting a track phone and buy the minutes you want.
- Save your raise or Christmas Bonus. For many of you who will be getting that big Christmas bonus or raise after the first of the year consider saving it instead of spending it. Even with a 3% cost of living raise this can add up. Besides you won’t miss the money anyways since your not use to having it.
- Cut off the Internet. If you have high speed Internet you can save a bundle by cutting this luxury out of the picture. Though some of you may not be able to do this you may want to consider cutting down to dial up. This is where I started. With dial up packages as low as $10 a month this could save you $30 to $40 a month easy.
- Cut off wasteful spending and pay for just what you need. Put a budget together and delegate where your money is going. Look for places you could save money at such as cutting down on fast food 5 times a week. Know where your money is going will usually show you simple places you could save money at. In fact I recently did this and realized after paying off all of my debts and living expenses that I had an extra $150 left at the end of the week.
- Start a part time business. I talked about this in a recent post why you should start a part time business. A simple part time business can make you some big bucks quick. When I started in financial services my first deal was a mortgage that made me $500. Not bad for one deal. In fact in some part time business can pay you residual where you’ll get paid every month as long as there a customer.
Do You Have Any Other Ideas?
I know that some of these ideas were probably a bit brutal but think of it this way would you rather have the big house or be up all night worrying about how your going make next months mortgage payment. Would you rather have a cell phone and living paycheck to paycheck or is having a little peace of mind knowing you’ll make it though the month. It’s all about your preferences
Finally, do you have any other ideas to save money fast for your emergency fund? I’m sure there are a ton of other ways to do it so leave a comment let everyone know. When we share we all grow. To get more money saving tips check this post out.
The Post was recently released on The Carnival of personal finance #182 held by Free From Broke.