Save $1000 for my emergency fund

I struggled with this for over a year. Every time I got some money put away something else broke that cost more to fix than what I had. Finally, things have fallen into place. Due to a friend taking over paying his own bills and my boyfriend moving in and paying rent, I’ve been able to put a little away at a time and fix things as they break. Today I put the last bit of money in my savings from my tax refund. Now, it’s time to start a debt snowball! 1 week ago

I should be able to complete this goal a week from today, when my next paycheck comes in. Technically, I could complete it today, but I like having a cushion in my checking account in case of emergency. 2 weeks ago

Took me approximately six months but i did it. It was easy since my employer has the option of depositing an amount into your primary checking and another account of your choosing. I set it up so that 10% of my paycheck automatically went into my savings account before I had a chance to even see it and I reached my goal before I even knew it.

I’m still going to continue saving. 1 month ago

Unless something horrible happens with my new job, I’m not going to be in the red any time between now and the beginning of May. That means every substitute teaching job I pick up between now and the end of the year will be going toward my bills and savings for May, the summer, and September. 2 months ago

It looks like, if I can get every sub job I need and live super frugal… I can do this.

Wish me luck on the subbing gigs. 2 months ago

So I filled out my budget spreadsheet through next September and part of October.

I’m assuming I have to get all the way to my October loan payment on my savings after the summer.

My math tells me I’ll need at least 2400 in savings and 600 in checking. So if I were to complete the goal right now, I’d need 4,000 dollars. Add in a hundred in checking…

My monthly expenses and bills are about 350 dollars. So my total for the goal will decrease by that much as each month is paid off.

So my January goal will be only about 3800. My February would be 3500. March 3200, April 2900, May 2600, June 2300, July 2000, August 1700, September 1400, and October 1100. That extra 100 on October is for my checking, naturally.

So I set up a column with my “perfect” bank account for that month, then another column with that minus what I will have at that date.

My spreadsheet suggests I need 4600 dollars.

I think I need slightly less than that, but the more the merrier.

Now my spreadsheet will tell me when I’m getting close and I cna move things around. 2 months ago

now that i am back in jakarta, this goal is going to be a little bit challenging for me. due to inflation, it’ll take ages for me to reach to an equivalent of $1000. but if i ignored the currency, i could just save up to one million rupiah and that could be enough for my emergency fund… perhaps. hmm… 4 months ago

Now, I have about $850 to my name right now. So why do I say I have zero?

Here’s how it works.

Savings Total: 300. Earmarked for my October Loan payment.
Checking Total Roughly 550. 300 of that is earmarked for my November loan payment. The remaining 250 needs to go toward the 400 I owe on the computer I had to buy to stay in business.

By the time this next week is over, I should have put in at least 6 days of subbing, equaling about 300 dollars, which would cover the computer and put me 150 toward December’s loan payments. However, given some of the change sto pay structure in the subbing system I’m working in, I wouldn’t count on that money any time soon.

Given my constantly evolving set of bills, I think I’m just going to keep counting off loan payments until I get a year’s worth, which would be about 3400 dollars. Of course, I already have October and November covered, but there’s also the computer, so like 3000. Anything after that counts toward the emergency fund. The reason I’m counting ahead like that is because my subbing jobs don’t last through the summer, and I need to be sure I can make those payments even if I don’t get summer work.

Or maybe once I get 5 payments ahead (the current month plus the next four, around 1500), I’ll count it.

I don’t know. Advice? 4 months ago

$565 – more than halfway there. 4 months ago

my current balance as of today is $919.07. almost there. 6 months ago