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Best way to relieve financial stress during a pandemic

We are living in uncertain times. People are being laid off, we can’t leave our homes, it’s a real mess. But, with this time you can prepare yourself and your families for the foreseeable future by learning about personal finance.

You don’t have to be a expert on personal finance you just need to know enough to get by. With this check everyone is getting from the government it’s a great place to start! I have no interest in politics, and I don’t know where the government made this money appear from, but I’m trying to get myself and my family out of debt not the United States! So free money is free money, as long as I don’t need to pay it back later with interest.

So let’s pretend you’re a family of 3, you’ll be getting 3k from the government (woohoo). Instead of putting that towards a bill, save some of it.

People have a lot of opinions on how much they should save for an emergency fund. My opinion is, it depends. When we receive the check, we’ll be putting at least 1k in our savings. If you NEED a number put in how much your medical deductible is. So for example if your deductible is 1200 put that in there, if it’s 500 put 1k as a cushion. If your deductible is 5k put at least 2500 if you can. Then try and find a plan that has a lower one!

Congratulations, you just saved yourself a financial headache if something bad happens (knock on wood). The next item you should cross off your list is a budget. I’ve written about this a few times so you can read about budgeting here.

You’re doing well! Emergency fund is looking great, you’re saving SO much money now that you’re tracking your spending! Now what?

You stop, and save. Don’t be a hero and try to pay off debt during a pandemic. Wait it out and let
your money stock up. Then when all this is over you can pay off debt like a boss.

When this is all over you can either work on removing debt with the snowball method or avalanche method. Both have there pros and cons, I’ll be writing about the two methods soon!

How much do you think should be in your emergency fund? Tweet me @Ditchindebt if you think my amounts are to high or low.

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