savings funds

[-$86,743] Why I Want a One Year Emergency Fund

Posted on by Double Debt Single Woman

one-year-emergency-fund

In my 2017 Goals post I mentioned that my ultimate goal for my emergency fund was to save 1 year of living expenses.

You may wonder why I want so much in savings. I’m single. I don’t have any dependents, and I live rather frugally. Simply put, I want more because what I have saved so far doesn’t align with my goals.

life_preserver-old
My current 2.5k mini-emergency fund is a needed life line, a life preserver, should something unexpected, yet minor happen in my life. The life preserver doesn’t look pretty, nor does anyone using it; but that’s not the point. The life preserver has only one job, to keep your head above water until you’re out of danger. It does not provide comfort or space/buffer from the danger.

This level is savings is fine for some, particularly those who have a relatively low amount of debt compared to their income and who will be out of debt in a relatively short amount of time (less than one year). This is where my savings are now, and I’m seeing that this is not enough. Read More

Let’s Try This Again: I’m Out of Credit Card Debt for the Second Time

Posted on by Double Debt Single Woman

take2

Thanks to getting an annual bonus for 2015 that finally hit my account (yay!) and a paycheck, I have paid off the last $200 of my credit card debt and have started savings funds!

I suppose I am now officially ‘Single Debt Single Woman’! 🙂  Woot!

“It’s Deja-vu all over again…”

Last year (2015) this time, around the end of February / early March, I had just paid off over $30,000 of credit card debt.  I celebrated and was happy to be reaching large debt milestones. I even had about $2,000 in savings at the time. Things were looking up. Next on the horizon was my student loan debt.   Just days after writing those posts, I ended up in the emergency room, and several expensive doctors visits, diagnostic tests, and one major surgery later, I ended up losing all of 2015 to paying off the incurred medical expenses.

Well, here I am again at the end of February (2016) with my credit card debt freshly paid off and a bit of money in savings. I had been looking forward to an uneventful 2016, but as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m now I’m dealing with stress and uncertainty at work and home this year. It may be superstition, but Read More