None of us expect to ever have things in our lives be turned upside down and our finances totally drained. As much as we’d like to pretend it doesn’t happen though, it does and it happens every single day. Every single day, families find themselves in a financial crisis that they never expected. While you can’t prevent a financial crisis from happening, you can prepare yourself, your bank account and your family for them.
Make absolute certain that you have an emergency fund – Having even a small amount of money set aside for emergencies can help give you a cushion. Most recommend having $1,000 set aside at first, but if you can’t do that right away, go with whatever amount you can. Once you get that built up, you really should start working on having 2-3 months of expenses built up and then left untouched. Having that money in the bank can keep your family afloat should you ever lose your job or worse.
Build a food stockpile – I’m not talking about enough food to feed an army, but you should a 3-6 month supply of food and other household goods built up. It might seem like a step that you can skip, but don’t allow yourself to fall to that thinking. Having those supplies built up means that you won’t have to buy them for that time period. Not having to buy them of course means more money left in your pocket.
Have a good support circle – This one might not seem like it is very important, but in reality, when you’re having any kind of crisis, a good support network near you is so important to making it through and to keeping your stress levels down. Even if they only help you with things like baby-sitting while you’re looking for a job, that is one less thing that you have to worry about. If you don’t have any family nearby, joining a church or other community organization is great for building a great circle of support.
Learn new skills – No, I don’t think you should go out and get a new college degree or certificate. I mean that you should learn new skills to help you lower your cost of living should you ever need to. Things like sewing your own clothes, canning and dehydrating foods, and making your own health and beauty products. You may not use those skills everyday of your life, but should you ever need them, they will be there once you learn them.
Pre-plan your emergency budget – It might sound silly, but when a financial crisis starts, the last thing you are going to want to do is prepare a budget. You just aren’t going to want to think about it. Instead, have an emergency budget already prepared. Keep this budget very basic and keep it so that only your needs are on it. If things go south for your family financially, you can fall back on that budget, make any tweaks that you need to and be better prepared to start living on less than you’re used to.
Your family may never experience a financial crisis, but chances are that you will at some point or another. Isn’t it better to be prepared for one than have to struggle and muddle through one?
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