Doomsday Fund
The Dough Roller, not a blog I frequent, but he has some real gems in his blog.
A few weeks ago, I liked this Doomsday Fund article where he delineates exactly what he’d do in desperate times.
What would I do?
1) Cancel my phone service and DSL line into the house. I have a cellphone. Now that I have a laptop, I’d wardrive for a WiFi connection, hit up a free hotspot at Panera Bread, or tote it to a friend’s house and use theirs. Save $50 a month. (It would have been more, by my new phone bill came yesterday and it’s now $10 less! Hooray for calling for a cheaper deal!)
2) I’d ask my mom to pay her portion of the cellphone bill. My folks used to pay for mine, but now I pay for theirs as add-on phone lines to my primary line. Save $25-40 a month.
3) I’d consolidate my bills and loans so I’d have better cash flow every month. (Tried and true since I did this before. Maybe I should do this again?) Save $100-200 a month.
4) I’d get a second job either back at the yarn shop, waiting tables again, tutor kids, or pet sitting/baby sitting. Earn $100 a month.
5) I’d stop dining out, as much as it would pain me to do so. I’m packing lunch more often and I feel like I’m still ‘practicing’ at it rather than actually saving money. Save $200 a month.
6) I’d stop my retirement contributions completely, which I am doing now and it’s working. Save $500-800 a month.
7) I’d start to sell or pawn everything I had of value. In rough order: Books, CD’s, DVD’s. My bicycle. My iPod Nano. My kitchen appliances. My stash of yarns and fiber. Original artwork I’ve collected. My spinning wheel. My motorcycle. A diamond and gold bracelet my mother gave me for graduation which I never wear. My car.
I’d start making things to sell at Etsy.
9) I’d scale back my car insurance. Save $10-50 a month.
10) I’d sell my furniture, then my condo.
11) I’d donate what I could to charity increase my deductions and thereby reduce my taxable income.
12) I’d try to leverage this blog to earn more money.
That’s all I could really brainstorm. I’m doing a few of these things already, like stopping the contributions and packing my lunch more often. It’s working for me, albeit very slowly.
HC wrote:
I would love to see your Etsy store, even if you don’t “need” to start one.
That place is full of adorable things that tempt me. Thus far, I’ve been able to resist, but mostly by not visiting it that often.
Posted on 15-Nov-07 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
mary wrote:
It would be smarter to do some of these money saving things NOW so if your situation changes, it would not be so drastic and you could be putting more money in an emergency fund.
Posted on 20-Nov-07 at 10:35 pm | Permalink
Sour Apple wrote:
I’m curious why would you scale down your retirement contributions? I guess I’m not clear on the blog maybe. I guess this is one way to increase your cash flow.
6) I’d stop my retirement contributions completely, which I am doing now and it’s working. Save $500-800 a month.
Posted on 21-Nov-07 at 4:18 pm | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
Sour Apple - If you browse by 401k category, you’ll see that I have a dental bill I want to pay off before Christmas, so to increase my current cash, I have stopped retirement contributions for the moment. I could continue post-tax savings for a Doomsday/Emergency fund, but I probably won’t once the dental bill is paid.
Posted on 21-Nov-07 at 8:54 pm | Permalink