Saving & Spending Budgeting & Expenses

From $0 to a Safety Net: How I Created an Emergency Fund in 6 Months

See how my family increased our emergency fund 200X in six months.

By William DeLong

Edited by Sara Albertelli

Updated June 5, 2025

When you're living paycheck to paycheck and facing inflation, medical bills, and debt, preparing yourself financially and building a strong savings account can feel impossible. I didn't think my family could do it either, but we went from $87 to over $17,000 in savings in just six months.

Continue reading to learn how we achieved this feat.

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We began with a plan and a goal

After needing to make a major repair to our vehicle, my wife and I sat down with our two children to find a way to improve our finances. We decided to set aside at least three months of our take-home pay as an emergency fund.

We laid out a plan for making this happen. We worked backward, starting with the lofty yet attainable goal of $18,000.

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We cut our discretionary spending to nearly zero

The first thing my wife and I did was eliminate our own discretionary spending, such as morning coffee shop runs and the gym membership.

Our children understood the importance of these changes, and they both reduced what they spent every month after we discussed the idea of building an emergency fund.

They gave up three streaming services, our weekly dinners out, and some of their birthday gifts. Our children knew this was temporary.

We changed our spending behavior

Next, we looked for ways to spend less on essential items. Shopping apps, discount stores, less expensive meal ingredients, cheaper gas stations, and a lower-cost family cell phone plan reduced our essential spending by $300 a month.

We also drove less, planned routes to use less fuel, and spent more time at home as a family.

Coupled with the elimination of non-essential spending, we saved around $450 per month.

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We opened a dedicated high-yield savings account

Our local bank offers high-yield savings accounts (HYSA), so we opened one shortly after we made our emergency fund plan. We deposited any money left from our monthly budget directly into this dedicated savings account.

We discovered that an HYSA has higher interest rates than a traditional savings account. It continues to grow to this day, whether we add more funds to it or not.

We talked to our creditors

My wife and I negotiated with some of our creditors to lower our debt. We looked into the options for skipping a mortgage payment, debt consolidation, refinancing an auto loan, and lowering interest rates.

Our mortgage company let us skip a single $850 payment, although that move simply added a payment to the end of our mortgage. We also shaved off $50 per month from our debt load.

We adjusted the thermostat

The Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system consumes the most energy of any single appliance in our home. We used our programmable thermostat to run the heat and air conditioning less, particularly during the warmest and coolest parts of the day.

On temperate days, we opened windows to let fresh air in while turning off the HVAC unit altogether. Ceiling fans and room fans became essential. We reduced our utility bill by $35 a month.

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We earned extra income

We took on extra work in addition to our full-time careers. We are fortunate to work from home using laptops for remote jobs, which made our side gigs less stressful.

Our family earned $2,000 more per month. The extra income allowed us to fill our emergency savings fund faster than we would from just cutting our expenses and changing our spending habits.

We sold stuff we didn't need anymore

We had a huge two-day yard sale over a weekend and sold items to secondhand stores that would accept DVDs, collectibles, and clothes. These offered faster methods to get cash compared to eBay or online marketplaces.

These sales accumulated $675 more to add to our emergency fund. Plus, we ended up creating additional space in our home, making it more enjoyable, cleaner, and more organized.

We took advantage of loyalty programs at retailers

Loyalty rewards programs saved us more money than we would have thought. Even big-box retailers like Target and Walmart have rewards programs that let you save money.

Over six months, we took advantage of these programs to save $560 on shopping for items we already buy. Items like paper towels, laundry detergent, and even food all had various in-app sales at retailers from week to week.

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Bottom line

Our entire family made sacrifices for six months to make the right money moves and build our emergency fund. It was hard at times, but my wife and I assured our kids that some of the things we gave up, like streaming services and fewer birthday presents, were just temporary.

We missed our goal of $18,000 to save in six months by less than $1,000, but now our emergency fund continues to grow as it approaches $25,000 thanks to learning some of these money-saving habits. The kids look forward to a splurge around the winter holidays with a tree bursting with presents underneath it.

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