While most of us understand we have rights, it is nice to remind ourselves of these:
Your Bill of Rights
You have the right to be you.
You have the right to put yourself first.
You have the right to be safe.
You have the right to love and be loved.
You have the right to be treated with respect.
You have the right to be human, not perfect.
You have the right to your own privacy.
You have the right to ask questions about anything that affects your life.
You have the right to earn and control your own money.
You have the right to be angry and protest if you are treated unfairly or are abused.
You have the right to make your own decisions.
You have the right to grow and change, which includes changing your mind.
You have the right to say no.
You have the right to make mistakes.
You have the right not to be responsible for other adults’ problems.
You have the right not to be liked by everyone.
You have the right to control your own life and to change if you are not happy with the way it is.
(Sage Publications, Inc)
If you are in an abusive relationship right now, there is help available. For more information about domestic violence, help with your specific situation or someone to talk with who understands, here is the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233.
Every good budget needs to include an Emergency Fund. An emergency fund is short-term which means it is relatively accessible, like a savings account or a CD. It is also used only for emergencies and then replenished.
Emergency funds are important because:
1. An emergency fund can help you avoid being evicted if you lose your job, or become injured or sick.
2. They can help you stay within your budget even when you have unexpected emergency expenses such as having to replace your refrigerator.
3. They can help you avoid paying late fees, overdrawn accounts and insufficient funds. As many people know, having a series of bounced checks can end up costing a lot of money. Having an emergency fund in place will help avoid this costly mistake.
4. An emergency fund will help you not go into debt or into further debt when an emergency arises. Instead of having to take out a loan or charge major car repairs, you will have the money in savings.
5. Emergency funds can help smooth out irregularities in income such as seasonal downturns, small checks based on commissions, or unpredictable losses of benefits such as TANF.
Some experts recommend saving three months salary for an emergency. For many, this is an unrealistic goal. Saving $500-$1000 is a good place to start. If you are already struggling with a tight budget, start small and save what you can. The added security an emergency fund gives you is worth the trouble it takes to save it.
An important point to remember with emergency funds is that once you use them, they need to be replenished as quick as you can. Also, these funds need to be for true emergencies, not for things like birthdays or Christmas, or even for larger expenses that you may know about ahead of time. Saving for a new car or for a vacation or other major purchases should be done in a separate account. Examples of things that would be considered appropriate for an emergency fund include:
- Not receiving expected income on time
- An unexpected period of unemployment or under-employment
- A Car breaking down
- Unexpected illnesses or injuries
- Travel expenses due to a funeral
- Traffic tickets
- An unexpected tax burden
Here is a list of 21 Strategies for Creating an Emergency Fund from the Zenhabits website:
If you have trouble saving, it’s not enough to tell you how important it is to have an emergency fund. You need some strategies for doing it.Please note that you should choose the strategies that work best for you, and perhaps combine some of them if that works better.
- Start small. If you don’t have much to save, it doesn’t matter — the important thing is just to start. Even if it’s only $25 per paycheck, just start. It will slowly grow each paycheck, and you will be glad to see at least a little in your savings, and will soon be motivate to try to save more.
- Automatic deduction. This is common advice, but that’s because it works. Set up an online savings account (such as ING Direct or Emigrant Direct) and have it automatically deduct an amount each payday. If you don’t have to think about it, saving will be much easier.
- Payroll deduction. If you have discipline problems, there are accounts where you can have the amount deducted directly from your paycheck, before it’s deposited into your checking account (or before your employer cuts the paycheck).
- Treat it as a bill. Every payday, you have a list of bills to pay before you can spend any of your money on variable expenses such as gas, groceries or eating out. Well, add your emergency fund contribution to your list of bills, and pay it at the same time. This makes it non-negotiable, and then what’s left over is what you can spend on other stuff.
- Reduce an expense, save it. Take a look at how you’re spending money now, and find some things that can be cut back. Magazine purchases, gourmet coffee, comic books, cable TV, gizmos and gadgets. Whatever you decide to cut back on, take that same amount and put it directly into savings each paycheck. Don’t spend it.
- Round up. I got this tip from J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly … actually, it’s a strategy used by his wife, who will log every purchase or check she writes into her checkbook or finance software — but rounds up to the nearest dollar. So if she spends $26.01, she enters it as $27. Over the course of a month, this can add up to decent savings.
- Double purpose account. This tip is from Trent of The Simple Dollar, who wanted to pay down his debts but still have the financial security of an emergency fund at the same time. So Trent brilliantly used a double-purpose account: he would save money in an account, and after he reached a certain minimum, anything above that amount was being saved to pay off a specific debt. So let’s say the minimum amount is $500. After you pass $500, the money being saved is for a $200 debt (for example). Once you reach $700 in your savings account, you can pay off the $200 debt completely. Repeat the process for each debt.
- Tip yourself. If you go to a restaurant and tip a waiter 15 or 20 percent, for example, match that tip for yourself. So if your tip is $10, tip yourself $10 as well … and put that directly in savings.
- Keep paying debt, but to yourself. If you finish making a car payment, or paying off a credit card or smaller debt, take the amount you were paying to that debt and put it directly in savings each month. You won’t feel a difference in your budget.
- Budget big for groceries, then save the difference. Let’s say you normally spend between $320 and $375 on groceries. Budget $400 for groceries, and whatever you don’t spend of that $400, put it in savings.
- Quit smoking or drinking. Well, I wouldn’t bet my emergency fund on quitting one of these two addictions, but if you do quit, you should take the amount you were spending (and that’s a considerable amount, I know) and put it into savings. For me, I spent more than $5 a day on smoking — and when I quit in November 2005, it freed up $150 a month for savings.
- Limit your access. If you are tempted to spend your savings, you should put it in an account that is hard to get to. Put your savings in a money market account or fund, and when it reaches a certain amount, roll it over into a CD or Treasury bond. You might not make as much on a CD, for example, but the point is that it’s hard to access and requires less discipline.
- Stash a bonus or tax refund. If you get a Christmas bonus, or a tax refund, or some other such windfall, put that directly in the bank and don’t spend it. Use it for your emergency fund. Now start paying off your debt.
- Save your change. Don’t spend any coins you get. When you get home at the end of the day, empty out your pockets into a jar, and once a month, go to the bank and put it into savings. This can add up faster than you think.
- Save dollar bills. Similar to the above strategy, get your cash in $20 bills, or $10s or $5s. Don’t carry $1 bills. When you get $1 bills as change, don’t spend them. When you get home, put those $1 bills in an envelope, and save them.
- Refinance. Refinancing your mortgage or auto loan can save you a lot of money. Take the amount you save and put it in savings.
- Sell your car. If you have two cars, see if you can live without one of them. That’s what my wife and I do, and it works out fine, even with six kids. Take the amount you were paying on the second car and save it. Or, alternatively, sell your car and buy a cheaper used model. Save the difference in the payments.
- Cut out dessert. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t order the dessert or junk food you would normally order. Instead, put the amount you would have spent in an envelope and save it.
- Stay in. Instead of going to the movies or eating out, cook your own meals and watch a DVD — or do something fun for free. Save the difference.
- Freelance. Take your skills and market them as a freelancer, or get a second job on the side. Take the extra income and bank it. This was one of my strategies, and it works great.
- Save on auto insurance. If you can switch to liability insurance, you might be able to save hundreds of dollars. Take the extra amount you would have paid for insurance and save it.
