Back when I took Economics in college (probably at least 7 years ago now) we were taught that 3 months income (at least 3 months) is the best amount to have for "emergency money." I think that there is a HUGE difference in what a lot of people's idea of what an acutaly "emergency" is. We have written down "emergency fund" rules that we go by. My neighbors use their "emergency fund" for things that we do not consider emergencies!!! About two months ago their toddler wrote with magic marker on their couch... it was the couch in the play room and she went balistic and instead of tring to wash it off, she brought it to goodwill and used their "EF" to buy another one. My hubby and I get surprized to see what some people use it for!

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One happy wife and mommy!!!

Truthfully, I have always heard 6 months salary. Our goal was to have a year, and that is what we have right now. My dh was extremely pleased when we reached this to say the least!

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

Yeah...new furniture...NOT an emergency in my book!

I consider small emergencies to be things like:
A large appliance going out, or your tires are so worn out it's not safe to drive on them, your car broke down and you really need it to get to work....things like this.

Things that you would rather pay in cash then have to put onto a CC.

Not new furniture! amazing!

$1500 for us I would give yourself more depending on your credit, net worth etc. I know if we were to have a real emegency that we could get the money we needed.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006 &

Organizer of the Coupon Clippers of Tacoma

I think the way the economy is going right now that 6 months would be the best. I know that at my work people were laid off January 2 and still not called back yet. I don't have much in the savings right now, as I am trying to pay down my debt. I was playing it out in my head what things I could do without and what things I needed.. it only shaved off about $300 a month.. I really need to start saving just in case something happens.

We have quit a bit in savings, but I'd want to have at least a few thousand dollars in case something major needed replacement in the house.

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I've read that 3 months minimum if you both work, if you are a one income household you should have 6-9 months saved.

We have 1,000+ saved in a hardly any interest account at our bank linked with our checking. This is our fund for things that need fixing suddenly-with the car or house. However I've never had to use it b/c I've had enough in checking to fix things.

We have other savings and are working on our 6 month goal with ING's savings. It's easily access and not so easy that I over spend. Actually, i just have $ auto transfered from my checking so I never think about it or remember it. That 5% is better than our banks savings. After we hit 6 months expenses then we will put more money in more growth investments.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

Right now we have $1000 in savings! That'll be all that's in there until our debt it paid off. Once the debt is gone the plan is to save up 6 months of EXPENSES (not income) since DH is our sole breadwinner. My plan at that point is to keep $1000 in that regular savings account for minor emergencies... (car breaking down, etc) and then put an extra 6 months of expenses into a money market account. This will be for MAJOR emergencies (such as DH loosing his job). That way we REALLY have to think about what we consider a major vs. minor emergency! We may even put the money market account at a different bank to make it a little harder to get to!

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We keep $10,000 in a money market for emergencies. We have about $2,500 on credit cards right now because we are getting a building loan to build a house and will have to convert it to a home loan a few months later. We are keeping the $2500 on credit cards until the final loan is approved. Then, we will pay them off (we have the money to pay off the credit cards.)

However, if we went through the 10K, we can charge on credit cards or will be able to tap into our home (we will owe about 25% of its value after it is built.) My husband and I are in our 40's and I can get a job substitute teaching at $130 a day in our local schools (the middle school is always short subs) any time I want/need.

Because we are older and have been careful with money, we have more saved. To get to this point, for several years (about 5), we were investing 45% of our gross income and several more at about 25% of gross income. Saving and investing wisely does pay off over time.

We have about 5-6 months worth of expenses at ING. Right before I had our baby, we had a whole years' worth of expenses, because I wanted to make sure we would be covered if anything went wrong with the labor/delivery. The extra cushion was nice when we transitioned from two incomes to one income.

This summer we bought a larger house and put the excess savings towards the down payment (which brought our payment and term down). I'm a little nervous without the huge EF, but I know in my head that 5-6 months is just fine. I actually feel like *I* am in some ways an Emergency fund. I can go back to work at any point and replace 3/4 of my DH's salary. I keep in touch with my previous employer, and I network with other firms too - so I could be employed by the end of the week if necessary.

We don't have any debt except our house, so that helps to keep our monthly expenses low. We also have ROTHs that we could tap if it were a dire emergency. That would be absolutely a last ditch effort though.