Author: Chelsea Culp

This past October, I realized how important saving for emergencies is after needing emergency dental work. I wasn’t happy that I had to dig into my hard earned savings that I had planned to use for a beach vacation, but it was either get the $2,000 procedure or live with excruciating pain. Unplanned life events like these are why I keep an emergency fund. You never know what can happen, and emergencies are almost always untimely and inconvenient. An emergency fund can help soften the blow.

What would you do today if you got a flat tire, or if your basement flooded? Would you be able to pay for the expense? If not, you must begin an emergency fund now. Because in the instance that one of these events or something similar should suddenly happen, you want to be able to pay for it without using a credit card or using other high cost credit products – both of which will just bring you more debt in the long run.

How to Begin Building an Emergency Fund

Plan for and track your spending. If you save a specific amount of money each month for lunch with friends, hair care, bowling night, or other activity or regular discretionary expense, do the same for an emergency fund by setting aside $50 or more a month and putting it into your savings account. It may be hard to do in the beginning, but after three months of doing it will become routine and feel like a regular expense.

Don’t impulse buy. How many times have you gone to the store to pick up one item (bread, cereal, prescription, etc.), only to be pulled into a buy-one-get-one-free or similar sale on a kitchen gadget, or a display of discount books or DVDs near the checkout line? When this happens, remind yourself that the item isn’t in your weekly or monthly and that the item is not a necessary expense.  

Lose the luxuries—at least some of them. You will be surprised at how much you can save in just a few months by simply renting movies instead of going to the movie theatre or buying newly released DVDs. Other luxuries like eating out can be limited to once or twice a month instead of once a week.

Forgo the daily coffee and 3pm snack. Do you buy yourself a latte every morning or a bag of chips every day around 3pm? If so, whatever you spend on those purchases, commit to set aside twice the amount of money each week in a savings account. You’ll save a minimum of 10 dollars a week, which comes to about $500 after a year. For some emergencies, that’s enough. If you think that you can set aside more, do so and that way, whatever comes your way, won’t  be as much of a hassle.

Don’t play the lottery. Instead of putting $5 or more into scratch off lottery cards that most likely bring you no return, instead put that money into a savings account where it will have an impact and go to good use.

This post is from America Saves. Written by April Crews from the Military Saves Blog. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Learn more about FNB Savings Accounts here: https://growwithfnb.com/personal-savings/

Do you have enough savings to cover an emergency? If not, you’re among the 71 percent of people that don’t have enough set aside to cover six months’ worth of expenses. Having money set aside for unplanned expenses is essential, but, according to the Bankrate survey released in June, only 29 percent of adults say they have a large savings account.

Here are three easy ways to jump start your emergency savings fund.

1. Open a savings account.

If you don’t already have a savings account, start your savings journey by opening one. A savings account is a great way to set aside money into a separate account that you typically can’t access with your debit card.

Savings accounts often have stricter guidelines that limit the number of times you can transfer money from your account. Many banks and credit unions enforce a six time transfer limit. This means you’ll be charged a fee for each additional transaction that you take money from your savings once you’ve reached that limit. This is a great way to keep yourself accountable, and avoid the temptation to spend your savings.

2. Set up automatic savings.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to save is automatically. With automatic savings, you can set it up, and let it go!

Watch your savings grow each time you get paid by asking your employer for a direct deposit form. You’ll need your banking information, including your savings account number and the routing number to your bank. Determine how much money you can comfortably afford to set aside from each paycheck and then complete your direct deposit form. No direct deposit? Talk to your banking institution about scheduling automatic transfers from your spending account into your savings.

If you need help figuring out how much money you can afford to save, you might want to calculate your expenses and create a budget. >> Learn about budgeting.

3. Make a promise to yourself to save.

Saving money is always fun and exciting at first. When you make your first savings deposit, you feel like you’re one step closer to reaching your savings goal and you can’t wait to see your progress. After a few months of continued savings, you might start to get comfortable and feel like it wouldn’t hurt to spend some of your emergency savings on a non-emergency.

That’s where we step in! When you take the America Saves pledge, you’re making a promise to yourself to continue saving. We’ll send you reminder text messages to encourage you to make your savings deposit. These gentle nudges will help you stay on track, even when you have money saved. You can never have too much savings so it’s important to stay focused. We’ll also send you helpful savings tips and tricks to continue working towards your goals!

Take the America Saves pledge and start your savings journey so you can be prepared the next time life happens.

This post is from America Saves. By: Darlene Aderoju

To learn more about FNB Savings Account options visit: https://growwithfnb.com/personal-savings/.