Do you find yourself living paycheck to paycheck?  What happens if you have an emergency happen?  What if you get into an accident, have car troubles, go to the ER?  The situations can easily happen and if you are not prepared, it can make for even more stressful situations.

It is a good rule of thumb to keep a nice supply of cash on hand to get you through any emergency that may occur.  There is a popular train of thought that $1000 is the magic number, but some people say less than that is fine, while others would never be comfortable having only $1000 on hand and prefer to have a lot more than that.  Another popular train of thought is to have no less than 3 months of expenses saved up.  So what’s the right way to do it?

Well, there really is no right way to do it other than to just do it!  I know it seems hard, but it is doable.  Here are a couple of tips for those of you who are working toward saving up their emergency fund:

Cut spending.  I know it is easier said than done, but pass up that habit of buying a latte every day on the way to work.  Think about it this way, if you don’t spend that $3 each day, that is almost $100 in just a month that can go toward your savings.

Cut the cord.  Consider canceling your cable.  Get a streaming device and watch Netflix or one of the other great streaming services out there.

Write out and follow a budget.  Budgeting is intimidating.  I get it.  When you being though, it doesn’t have to be.  Just be sure to start small and write out what you want your budget to look like.  Then for a month, keep track of every single penny that you spend, so that you know where to cut back and how to get your budget where you want it.  This step alone could get you your emergency fund savings.

These are just 3 of the many ideas that I have put together to get you on the path of saving.  What tips do you have to share?