Most of us would have dipped into all our savings including the emergency reserve money we would have kept for ourselves and borrowed money from friends and relatives to buy our new home. This is the case with most of us. But then it should become our priority to rebuild this emergency fund at the earliest without fail.
A cash reserve fund should be able to cover at least 3 to 6 months of your living expenses, in case you go without a job on hand or some other situation warrants that you spend all the money.
Consider investing your emergency surplus saving into a short-term mutual fund. This may be the best option for you as it helps you liquidate your investment easily when required and you get to earn higher returns that savings bank account.
Of course now with mortgage payments and monthly expense it might seem impossible to set aside cash for the surplus emergency fund. But then you would have to cut corners everywhere and save every penny to make this happen.
It is quite normal that we end up spending on unbudgeted expenses like car repair, medical bills, travel etc. While many of these cannot be avoided, you still have other areas where one can postpone expenditure and diver the saving to build the reserve fund. You do not have to invest money into re decorating your new home right way. You can postpone the same for next year and save up on that money.
When you buy a new home and move in, you have a tendency to do up the place and do not realize how much money is spent until your bank account goes zero. You might keep buying new things, gadgets, furniture, or repair the house, re model it or add new extensions. This is true with most of the people.
House-proud people often wish to keep their homes spot less and in top condition. They do not mind spending money on every small repair when they see a small crack or a flaw.
The need of the hour to day is to save up every penny and live within your means and budget. For this you would have to postpone all your grand plans for your home for now. Of course as your income increases and when you are able to afford, you can plan to do up your home.
Refer to various other pieces of work penned by this author covering items like pressure washer spray nozzles and fire exit safety signs.
