Creative Ways to Save Money: Emergency Fund Savings

More and more people are turning to their emergency funds as a primary bill fund. This means the emergencies these funds were set up to cover will have no backing if they were to occur today. Spending the emergency fund money cannot be helped in some cases, but building that emergency fund back to previous levels and adding even more money to the fund will bring financial equality back to the home.

Earning More a Bit at a Time

The Internet and writing for the Internet is one huge way to supplement an income without having to add a second or third job to the resume. With websites like Associated Content, Helium and eHow paying residual income for written work, the extra funds needed to replenish the emergency fund is just waiting to be earned. If a person earns just $10 a month from each of these websites, the potential earnings for a year tops out at $360. This money could be added to the emergency fund and accrue interest over the entire year. In some cases, all it takes is writing one piece every day to make much more money than that. Eventually, the bills being paid from the emergency fund could be paid with the residual income from writing online.

Making Sure Your Accounts are Earning for You

Another huge problem with growing an emergency fund today is the fact that the fund is not growing at all. Many bank accounts are offering higher interest rate if a person transfers their accounts to the new bank. While this may seem like a huge step, if the emergency fund is currently sitting in an account that earns only 1% interest and can be moved to an account that earns more, that is added income and a substantial increase to the emergency fund.

Getting Rid of Bad Debt Versus Good Debt

Taking a closer look at personal finances, paying off bills in a certain order could prove better for the overall finances of the household and subsequently the emergency fund. Bills should be paid off in order of interest rate. The bills with the highest interest rates should be paid off first. Much of the monthly payment on these bills will go toward the interest on the amount due as opposed to the principle. Once these bills are paid off, the bill with the next highest interest rate should be paid off and so on. After a short period of time, the emergency fund could, potentially, receive all of the additional money being saved on high interest thus building the fund back to previous levels.