Emergency Fund…..A Must

The other day I had to put 4 new rims and 2 new tires on my car. I went to Discount Tire where I know the manager in hopes of getting some kind of deal. I got a better deal than if I did not know the manager but $600.00 is still pretty steep. That, along with the cook top going out on me a few weeks ago, see My First Blogger Entry, just about depleted my emergency fund. But the fact remains, that is was there and it was used for the purpose that it was intended. If it had not been there, I would have had to finance both purchases and would be paying on them for who knows how long as well as incurring the finance charges. If you don’t have at least a starter emergency fund in place with at least $1000.00 in it, you need to start building this up now. If you have to use it, as I did, you have to replenish as soon as you possibly can. Luckily, I never stopped my automatic deposits into this account so the money will continue to go into it. I may use the Economic Stimulus Payment from the government to get it back to the level that it was before when I receive it. See The Official Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Payment Schedule, to see when you should receive yours.
Without the emergency fund in place, these items, that I had to have, would still have been purchased, probably on credit, and the finance charges added to the overall cost. This would have potentially cost me around $100.00 more if purchased on credit. I will say it again, build your emergency fund now so that when the unexpected happens, and it will, you will be ready and it will not take away from you goal of saving you hard earned dollars.