Last Updated on September 25, 2017 by Marie Bautista
When you are raising children, expenses come with a territory. Before you create your family, you anticipate a level of expense when you are planning how many children you want to have. You think about the equipment you’ll need, the extra money you need to pay out for groceries and even how much it would cost you to add to family vacations. A lot of families, however, do not think about the unexpected expenses that can crop up.
Having a family comes with a risk. When it’s just you and your partner, things like job losses and house moves don’t feel like a big deal – stressful, but can be dealt with. When there are children in the picture, a job loss can be a catastrophe. The idea of the funds that support the children running low or even running out is not one that any set of parents like to face, but emergencies do happen. There are many ways you can prepare yourself for an emergency expense in the face of loss of income or medical bills that you haven’t accounted for. Below, we’ve put three of the best ways to help yourself in an emergency situation, and how to prepare before things even get to an emergency state:
- Savings. Every month, you likely have a budget set out for your monthly outgoings. A portion of that budget should always be allocated to a dedicated savings account, meaning that you always have a cushion of money saved for a rainy day. Your savings should always try and stay within the region of three months of expenses, so that in the event of a job loss, you can cover yourself and your family until you manage to find a new one.
- Loans. Emergency situations are often ones that are last minute and unplanned. Services like signature.loan are available to those who need to get access to cash quickly. This can be in the case of a hospital visit that you haven’t anticipated, or even a boiler dying in the home. A loan is a reassuring option to have as a backup, just ensure you can afford the repayments should you choose to go that way.
- Friends & Family. When you don’t have a savings pot available – or it’s run out – and don’t have the credit available to get a loan, you can turn to loved ones. It’s a contentious issue for some, as they don’t like to go to family for help with finances if it’s possible. However, family and friends are you support network and when you are short and need help, you need only ask. If they cannot help you, at least you tried.
Everyone at some point has an emergency situation that they need to contend with. It doesn’t mean that it cannot be managed or overcome. Life has a funny way of working itself out and when there are children in the picture, parents will fight tooth and nail to ensure they are not affected by financial issues. Don’t panic – help is always at hand.