Setting Up An Emergency Fund

At the end of last month my emergency fund was down to $191! I hope that I never allow that to happen again.

This month I'm trying an experiment. I'm going to be taking all income in excess of our salaries and placing it into an emergency fund. My goal is to get this fund up to approximately $1500.

So far, my father sent me a birthday check $75, my husband had an unexpected residual check $377, I requested money rather than a "reward" on my MBNA credit card $120. Another acting check for $450 came in. And its only the first week of the month!

I'm not certain that I'll be able to keep it up, but, I'm thrilled that we've had so much come in already. The account is back up to $1300 and I feel I can breathe a little bit easier. Because our house payments are $5000, and one of us is self employed, I feel like this account needs to be larger, but, $1300 is better than it was last week.

I've begun tithing again (I'm sure this has something to do with this added income), this is something I've done off and on for the past 15 years. Its been difficult for me to stick with it, but, I have always prospered incredibly when I am tithing.

One of the reasons I continued to stop and start is because I don't know what I'm making, I don't know what my husband is making since we have it set up on automatic deposit, I have bills coming out of my business account that are automatically paid and I'm not seeing the "income" as personal to tithe off of. Currently I am working out a system to be more aware of my income and this will give me to ability to tithe appropriately.

The other reason I stop and start is because sometimes I begin thinking that I'm not going to have enough, forgetting that God is my source! It drives me crazy when I begin to operate out of fear and not out of trust. Whenever I am not tithing I am always afraid, when I am tithing I am still sometimes afraid no matter how many times I've been shown prosperity. Without tithing I have no sense of hope, with tithing I know that God will provide.

I say a prayer of thanks when I write this tithe check, because I really am grateful for everything I've been given. I then send my tithe off with love and gratitude.





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