[Danielle]

Personally I would not put extra to debt until you have at least 1,000 in emergency fund then stack the debt.. What about you?

[Lindsey]

There is no right $ amount. We all have different salaries and different goals. Our ultimate goal is to have 6 months’ salary in our EF but we save more aggressively for other sinking funds and the least amount goes towards our emergency fund.

[Shamya]

I know technically you’re supposed to build your emergency fund first then debt, but I do $50 every paycheck (bi weekly) so I’ll have about $1200 at the end of the year

[Cassi]

That is gonna vary based on the individual(s), their out going expenses, incoming monies, etc. There is no one size fits all answer. I’d say whatever you can! Whatever is leftover after meeting obligations. As you meet those obligations and knock out debt, what you will be able to save monthly will grow.

[Marie]

This depends on so many variables and your circumstance. I would start with 5% of your paycheck and if you can do 10. Then decide on a goal amount. If you have nothing start at 500 then may be up at 1000. For us, this is a continual sinking fund and I continue to put in no matter what.

Once I reach a good amount, I take the extra and then put that in my 3 to 6 month emergency sinking fund. As I said, this is a continual deposit, so I am always feeding into it.

[Jessica]

I have a newer car, fixed utility (reviewed every year) and I’m comfortable with letting our landlord know when there is a problem (he just replaced our dishwasher when it broke in December) I am using the 52 week challenge to slowly build my EF, ill have a little over 1k at the end of the year. I am being aggressive with my debt because I am aiming to have it all paid by this time next year. Then 1/2 my total bebt payment will go to EF the rest to various sinking funds. Im ok with not being aggressive with the EF right now. I also don’t have kids i need to worry about and my husband has his own EF and we both have really good insurance. This is a very personal, tailor to you and your family kind of decision

[Courtney]

How much do you currently have saved?

How much extra in total do you have? The amount is very individual based on your income and expenses.

If you don’t have anything saved yet, I’d get to at least $1,000 (this really depends if you own or rent, how reliable is your vehicle, etc.) before throwing more at debt.

[Tiffany]

I do $50 every paycheck which is biweekly. That’s just about $100 a month and $1200 a year. I’d eventually like to push it to $75 but, I’m very low income and that’s all I can afford.

[Vicky]

Whatever the amount you can manage and set a date to fulfill the goal. My first EF was $1000 by Dec 2023 and I was putting $10 wk then I got my refund and funded it completely. Maybe $10 is low for a lot of people but I’m also paying debt and saving towards a house. Now, I am in EF 2.0 and I want to put aside $20 wk.

At the end, whatever amt you put towards your EF is good, it is always better than zero.

[Joey]

When we first started I put $20 a week (I got paid weekly) from my checks and $50 from my husbands (1&15) in the event I had something else pop up I just did $50 from my husbands.

But that worked with our income. Right now I throw my paycheck into savings because I base everything off just his income.

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