How to handle unexpected expenditures (car repairs, accident, illness)
The best way to handle unexpected expenditures, such as car repairs, accidents, or illness is to have an emergency savings account fund. When you have an emergency fund, you will be prepared to handle and pay for some of life's little mishaps and you will avoid having to borrow the money. The big question now is, where to find the money to put into an emergency savings fund?
You can begin to save money by cutting costs and expenses. Instead of paying for cable TV or satellite dish, learn to live with basic television. If you do not need a cellular phone for business or work, get rid of. Yes, it may be convenient and you may feel you cannot live without one, but it is possible. Another convenience but expense that can be cut is high speed internet service. Dial up service is a fraction of the cost. Renting videos from the video store can be costly, instead try going to the library. The library has a wide selection of movies that can be checked out for free. Also, the library charges far less of a late fee than the video store does if videos are not returned on time. You may not realize the amount of money you could save by making these changes. For example, use the money you would normally pay for cable TV or satellite service for your emergency savings fund. A cable TV or satellite service bill can cost you anywhere from $25.00 to $100.00, sometimes even more. When you rent videos from the video store, it can cost you $10.00 to $20.00, money that could be put in your emergency savings instead.
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You can find clothing, toys and other household items for next to nothing by shopping at second hand stores and yard sales. You can also find great deals on clothing for the entire family at end of the season sales as long as you can wait until next year to wear them. You can also get incredible deals on brand new items by shopping at stores that sell other stores' surplus or damaged merchandise. Many household essentials such as cleaning products can be a bargain at your local dollar store.
The cost of food and groceries may be an unavoidable expense, but it can be less of an expense. Stop eating out as much, this includes buying lunches. If your family of four goes to dinner more than once a month, cut that in half and put the money into your emergency savings fund. The amount saved could be anywhere from $25.00 to $50.00 by eliminating just one dinner outing a month. You can cut your food bill in several ways. One way is to buy in bulk, especially when shopping for meat. You can also save money at the grocery store by purchasing generic labels, which are almost always identical to name brands. Another great way to lessen the cost of groceries is to make a list of items needed before going to the grocery store and buy only items on the list. Put the money you spend on a four dollar latte every morning into emergency savings. It may not seem like a lot of money but four dollars a day for coffee or eating lunch is twenty dollars a week, eighty dollars a month. Money that you could be putting into an emergency savings fund. Even if you were to cut that in half, you would save forty dollars each month
Sacrificing just a portion of luxury expenses and putting it into your emergency fund savings can not only save you money in the future but also save you a lot of time and stress.
