Safety net, how much do you have?

[woeisme]

Just curious about how much savings people manage during their BK, especially those in CH 13 who will be at it for 3-5 years. I filed in September and am pretty panicked over the fact that we haven't been able to save up much at all yet. What we did have went towards Christmas and then the car insurance was due this month. We are getting income tax $ back in a month or two (our trustee allows us to keep any under $6500) so will have a cushion then, but was wondering what amount people in general have been able to put aside during their BKs for emergencies, if you're willing to share. Thanks!

[Run]

You mean aside from the coin jar? We don't have much else.

[TabulaRasa]

lol... whatever is currently in my bank account.

[qwertysue]

We filed over the summer and had $1000 saved up in pure savings for emergencies. Had to dig into it for car stuff, but we still have some of that left. What's left will remain in savings for the next time we have an emergency. Although, the money that was saved was theoretically part of the budget plan submitted for auto maintenance.

[JollyGG]

Every time we get even a little bit we end up needing to do car repairs. We really need to tighten our belts and get something going.

[Minnymouth]

Everyone should try to have an emergency fund of at least 3 months of bill paying money and money for food/etc. And use it for emergencies only......

That gives you a 90 day + grace period to turn things around if something goes wrong.......

[chpxiii]

I got up to maybe a month's worth of savings while in active bk 13. I now have a couple of months... maybe more.

[woeisme]

We'd never be able to save up 3 months worth of $ while in BK, hopefully will be able to afterwards. Right now we have about $500, but the car needs a new wheel bearing or something like that (I'm afraid the tire is going to fall off one of these days!) and it leaks antifreeze, so we'll probably be close to zero by the time we take care of both of those. I am REALLY looking forward to our tax return this year!!! It should be about $3000, so that will really be nice, but still not even a month's worth of buffer really, since our trustee payment, mortgage and utilities would eat that up in 1 month easily, we wouldn't have $ for gas or food or childcare or any of the other expenses. Oh well, 4 months down, 55 to go, lol.

[imbroke2]

If I had 3 months worth of payments for bills I probably wouldn't be in BK. I know 1 person who has that saved and she's in a 2 person-2 employed household. And like ops said most of it goes to car repairs and for me gas for the car as I drive 100 miles a day to work. We're squeezed pretty tightly to our budget. I do have a little savings through my credit union at work, but that dwindles every so often through the year.

[tay666]

Right now, we have none.
We actually have more going out than we have coming in.
(which is why I am not filing yet. No sense in it until my wife is almost finished with school and ready to get a job)
After we file, and my wife is working again, then we will have a safety net.
I have already told my wife that we will take care of a few much needed things, like car repairs. Then we will be puttng a lot of money in the bank, just in case.
Besides. We also need to start saving up a good down payment for anotehr house a couple years down the line.
The more we have saved, the smaller our house payments will be.

[krielly]

Tay66,
Just curious........why would you wait until your household income increases before filing??????

[AboutToBK13]

Yeah if you are going to file, file before graduation.

DW just finished a doctoral degree in August. We waited to file because of issues with our house and being out of state at the time. But, had we filed while she was still in school, we could have filed a BK 7. Now we will have to file a BK 13.

[tay666]

Tay66,
Just curious........why would you wait until your household income increases before filing??????

Well, I am still waiting to get my all my forms to file my taxes.
With our low income this year we should be getting a big return thanks to the earned income credit.
I want to spend that on stuff we need, not let the trustee get it.

I figure the timeline like this.
Get return in mid-late Feb
File in March.
Wife graduates in April.
But still has to do internship and pass state test before full certification, so she won't actually be working until May.

2 benefits of putting it off as long as I can.
This way, the 341 will be after she is done with school, and she won't have to miss time because of it.
Who knows when there will be another medical situation.
Better to put off filing as long as possible and include those costs.
Espcially since it is now a new year, which means the deductibles start all over again.
We still owe thousands in deductables / co-pays / things the insurance didn't cover, from my wife's 3 hospital stays early last year.

[arkienurse]

Currently, I have 400 saved up. Did have more, but Ds's tuition just came due. Still have to finish his room and board for this semester before I can start to save up. I would love to have 5000 by the end of the year so that if something breaks we can fix it.