10 Saving Tricks When Starting an Emergency Auto Repair Fund
When you look at the current financial situation that you are in at the moment, you would probably think that starting an emergency fund is the best way forward. In fact, most experts agree that starting and growing your emergency funds is a smart option. It’s never pleasant to be caught in an emergency that demands that you access a certain amount of cash that you can’t raise at that particular time.
That is what the emergency funds are for; to help see you through any rough patches in the future that may require that you part with some cash. What if your car breaks down in the middle of the month and you didn’t have any savings set aside for it? What would you do? You may have to use public transport to head to and from work till the next payday. What of a leaky faucet? Your smartphone or laptop gets stolen. What if you lose your job abruptly? How will you survive even as you look for another job?
Saving this money, however, is easier said than done. But this article will provide you with some awesome tips and tricks that you can use to save for your emergency funds.
1. Maintain a spending book
You will need to create and stick to a spending book. Track your monthly spending and categorize everything you spend on. Then evaluate each category and rid yourself of any unnecessary luxury and/or spending that you feel you can do without. The experts at Lendgreen advise their clients on effective loan management. With the spending book you can also keep track of how you are spending your loans.
2. Eliminate budget busters
Eliminate things like the cable TV. Or even step down to a cheaper package and save whatever is left on the emergency fund. Starting with small changes can save you a lot at the end of the day.
3. Renegotiate everything
If you haven’t ever noticed, almost everything that has a value is negotiable. Form the habit of renegotiating everything that you can. You will find that almost all of the time you try to renegotiate, you get better rates for almost everything.
4. Bank on savings
You need to ensure that you bank the savings that you have after evaluating how you spend and also trim all the spending areas you possibly can. You can even make sending money to your emergency fund become something of a routine. You can even decide and automate the transfer to make everything easier.
5. Sell your old stuff
After making your home evaluation, you may even realize that you have some old stuff that you don’t necessarily need anymore. Why not make some extra bucks off them by selling them? You can even sell them on Craigslist or eBay.
6. Get a side hustle
You can also look for a side hustle to help earn you some cash on the side. You can use your free times like the weekends and evenings doing something productive that earns you a little extra income and put that into your emergency fund.
7. Check your withholding
It’s usually a great feeling receiving your check from the IRS each spring. But it’s much better getting the cash now, and then transferring it into your emergency fund. You can use the IRS withholding calculator to adjust everything.
8. Babysit, pet sit, or even dog walk for other people
Another awesome side gig. Remember, it’s all for the money. And you want that emergency fund to keep rising.
9. Rent your extra room
If you have an extra room and/or guest house in your home, then you can also rent it out on Airbnb and make some extra income off it.
10. Sign up for focus groups
These are kind of like surveys. Marketers and pollsters are ever so interested in knowing that you think about their products and services that they will literally pay you to get your opinion on them. You can get anywhere between $50 and $150 on websites like FindFocusGroups.com for just speaking your mind.