Dave Ramsey $1000 Emergency Fund

[Tiff in TX]

We dug into ours for the first time today. The car had some issues and the repairs will be about $700. It would have cost more, but two of the issues DH will be able to fix on his own.

 

It was so nice to have an *emergency* come up and we are still able to keep our heads above water. I am so thankful that we started the fund in March and we now have the opprotunity to use it!

 

Good news: We will be able to put the $700 back in the emergency fund next month

Bad news: We spend $700 extra each month on debt:glare:

 

Anyone else care to share how their emergency fund saved them?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We used every penny of our Emergency Fund to cover my medical bills this summer. We just managed to build it back up and now I have Lyme disease (probably made worse due to the prior health issue). We were lucky to have had our EF, some of the lab work and tests required co-payments up front.

[Ferdie]

We use our emergency fund all the time for car repairs, plumber bills, medical emergencies and home repairs. Last month it was $100 hospital co-pay when my dd fell off a golf cart at her cousin's house. This month it was $180 to replace a part on our AC unit. There is always something.

[d.g.]

Back at the start of January, DH was laid off. We filed taxes really early and got a decent tax refund, and since I'd started reading up on Dave's plan on my own, I made sure that $1000 of it went into our savings right away.

 

Unlike most previous layoffs (DH is in a skilled trade/construction, it happens a lot) this layoff lasted...and lasted...and lasted. Meanwhile, unemployment was *barely* covering our base expenses. The mortgage was eating up over 75% of it, and basic utitilities the rest. No cash for food or anything else. We used the rest of the tax return to cover the difference and were pinching pennies like crazy. I didn't touch the emergency fund until it was dire.

 

In very early April, we were at Sam's Club, and there in the book section was a Total Money Makeover starter kit -- book, workbook, budget software, etc. It was $40. On impulse, I bought it, even though we couldn't really spare the money. Less than a week later, DH and I were both on board and making plans to get through the layoff and get started on our debt snowball.

 

Finally, at the start of May, Dh got a new job with overtime. The first thing I did was take the overtime pay and put it into our baby emergency fund. Good thing, too. Almost exactly a month later, DH was laid off again. In the same week as the layoff, our roof was damaged in a storm and the resulting leak damaged our dining room ceiling. The next day, while starting the insurance claim process, I received a letter informing us the IRS had audited a previous year's taxes and found a $830+ error. Our homeowners insurance would only cover 70% of the repair to the roof, so we had to fund the rest out of pocket. Oh, and my DSS flunked two required classes in school and we were going to have to fork out $300 for summer school so he could get his diploma. It was like Murphy threw a HUGE party in our house, and he and all of his friends were sleeping in our spare room. If it weren't for our baby emergency fund, that month would have sunk us because we were so close to the edge!!

 

As it is, DH is finally back to work again, and we're plugging along on refilling the fund. He's going to be getting a LOT of overtime in Sept. and Oct. (over double what he's getting now) and I'm confident that if Murphy shows up again, we'll be ok.

[momofkhm]

We used it to pay for my plane ticket so I could go out for my uncle's funeral in March.

 

Have a friend who used it to pay for a new A/C unit.

[Homeschooling Hannah]

My dear friend swears by Dave Ramsey.

I need to take the advice.

[lisamarie]

My EF is well over $1000 so my numbers won't add up. But just this summer we have used it for:

 

--$400 in copays for my DD's ER visit after falling out of the van onto her head and getting a concussion (ambulance, MRI, etc)

 

--$2000 for a major engine repair on the van

 

--$600 to fix the a/c on the van

 

--$450 to fix a ball bearing on the van (are you sensing a trend here???)

 

--$300 to buy a new deep freezer when the motor died on our old one

 

--$85 to repair our dishwasher when the main electrical wire burned

 

--a yet to be determined amount to cover DS's ER visit when he had an anaphylactic reaction to fish (a previously undiagnosed allergy)

 

 

All I can say is thank you God that we have a healthy emergency fund or we would have been in big trouble this summer. We did eat up our new windows/yard improvement fund, but that can wait until next year.