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• Building a strong emergency fund has been a goal of mine for some time now, and the pandemic has made saving that money even more urgent.
• To add more to my account, I cut down on take out and saved the money I would have otherwise spent.
• I also save the change and bills I find around my apartment, and I save some of the interest I earn on my CDs and high yield savings accounts.
• I also pay myself a “bonus” when I earn more than my monthly goal, and save money on my monthly budget.
• See Business Insider’s Picks For The Best High Yield Savings Accounts »

Have a healthy emergency fund has been a goal of my personal finances for quite some time now. I wanted to have that tampon that I could tap into if needed instead of going into credit card debt or interrupting my retirement savings. And it has proven to be useful over the years. He was there to help me pay my bills when I was laid off a few years ago, and he stood by my side this year when a significant chunk of my income was lost due to the pandemic.

During the times when I’m not using it, I actively try to find ways to keep building it. Experts recommend having three to six months of spending in an emergency fund, and while mine isn’t that big, I try to put at least $ 150 per month into the account. Most months I find ways to save even more.

Here are five of the creative ways I added money to my emergency fund every month last year, despite a change in income in 2020.

1. I traded take out for leftovers

An easy way to contribute to my emergency fund was to make the conscious decision not to order take out once a week and deposit that money. If I usually spent $ 15 a week on a take-out meal, I would swap that for leftovers (or something homemade) and put that $ 60 saved into my emergency fund at the end of the month.

At the start of the pandemic, Monday and Wednesday became my go-to parties. Reducing it to just one day a week allowed me to use that extra money to a better end.

2. I use high yield savings accounts and CDs to earn interest

A major financial change I have made in recent years has been to move my money from low interest savings accounts to banks with higher APYs. This allowed me to earn a few hundred dollars a year in interest. I decided to withdraw 10% of the interest I was earning each month on these high yield savings accounts and CD and deposit it in my emergency fund.

I thought of this interest as “free money,” that is, money that I didn’t get while working. Finding ways to use it strategically to reinvest in my finances struck me as a better idea than using it for fun purchases.

3. I pay myself a “bonus”

As a self-employed freelance, my income varies each month. I always have a target goal of what I would like to do, and some months I go below or above. I decided that, in the months when I was earning more than my goal, I would put the extra money into my emergency account like what I called “pay myself a bonus”. Since this money was more than I expected, I felt it was right to put it in the emergency fund so that if there are unexpected twists and turns in life, that money is used to advisedly.

4. I save the money left over from my monthly budget

One of my more recent financial habits has been to set a budget at the start of each month and track my spending. I am competitive by nature, and trying to achieve the goal of being on budget is something I work hard for. Over the past few months, I have been able to stay at least $ 250 under budget. I decided that the best use of this allocated money that was not spent was to put it into my emergency fund.

5. I save the change I find in the house

It might not seem like much, but every month, while I am deep cleaning my apartment, I collect any change or money that I left in my pockets and purses and deposit them in my account. Sometimes I only find $ 2, and other times I find more than $ 15. Even if it’s only a little money, adding it to the emergency fund makes me feel like it’s a safe place for the money in case I need more. late.