Last year my husband and I had barely any money in our savings account. We also were barely getting by each month and very much lived paycheck to paycheck which is something we decided we no longer wanted to do. We agreed to get my student loan paid off, which we did accomplish. Our next goal is paying off our car loan and building another $1000 in our savings account like we did this past year. This is basically our emergency fund. If we have it, we will be less frantic when something unexpected happens and we need the money.

Now understand that this emergency fund isn’t for ordering out for pizza or buying some new clothes. You need to be extra cautious when saving money by keeping it accessible but not touching it UNLESS it’s for an emergency.

Building an emergency fund and our savings is our first and main goal to achieving financial freedom. This is a way to help us get out of debt. It’s best to be prepared for what might come and this is one way to have peace of mind.

How to Save $1000

This is something that starts off easy but grows a bit more difficult each month, especially towards the end. Your first month you’ll be putting aside $2/week. So if you start in January you’ll have $10 saved up that month. The following month, you’ll need to be saving $5/week. Below is a photo attached of the entire plan.

If you begin in January, this will allow you to learn how to save $1000 by October. That’s a great accomplishment to achieve in just 10 months. Plus it’s a good New Years Resolution if you’re one of the people who creates goals and sticks to them. I’m not the best at sticking to my goals but budgeting and creating a good solid savings is something I’ve gotten far better at sticking with.

Read here on how to Create a Budget.

How do you save for emergencies?