Do you keep track of your finances so you know how much money you can reasonably spend each week? You’re on your way to a healthy budget! You understand the importance of realistic spending.  But are you saving for a rainy day? If something unexpected occurs, such as issues with your car or a leak in your home, could you afford the repairs? What if you are injured and can’t work for a few weeks?  To prepared for these types of events, you can create a rainy day fund.

If you don’t have extra money set aside, you aren’t preparing financially for a “rainy day.” Preparing for a rainy day doesn’t have to be complicated, and anyone can do it!

Here is everything you need to know about a Rainy Day Fund, including what it is, why it’s necessary, and how you can create one. 

What is a Rainy Day or Emergency Fund?

Rainy day funds and emergency funds are financial safety nets. If you ever have an unplanned financial need, you can use the money you’ve set aside. 

However, just to clarify, a new pair of shoes or video game doesn’t count as an “unplanned financial need.” We’re talking about things you need to spend money on, like a car to go to work or a refrigerator to keep your food cold.

To help with your financial planning, we’ve included descriptions of both a Rainy Day Fund and an Emergency Fund. You can use these guides to decide how you want to save.

Rainy Day Fund: A Rainy Day Fund is about $1000-$1500. It’s enough money to help cover an unplanned financial need, such as a car repair, new appliance, medical expense, or minor home repair.

Emergency Fund: An Emergency Fund is a much larger financial safety net, anywhere from three to six months of your living expenses. This fund can help cover job loss or being out of work temporarily due to a major accident or injury.

Why is a Rainy Day Fund an Important Part of your Budget?

Here are some other reasons to have a rainy day or emergency fund.

Reduces Stress of an Unexpected Cost

It feels stressful when an appliance breaks or you have an injury. You need to find a replacement appliance or schedule necessary medical care. These steps already take time and money. It will add to your stress if the money you need isn’t available. 

With a rainy day fund, you won’t have to worry about whether you have the money or where to get it if you don’t. This financial security helps you feel less overwhelmed.

Prevents Using Higher Interest Loan Sources for Funds

Without a rainy day fund, you might have to use a credit card or take out a loan to pay for unexpected financial needs. These sources charge high-interest rates that can be more of a financial burden.

If you already have the money set aside for a rainy day, you won’t have to use any loan sources.

Finding the Funds Won’t Interfere with Other Financial Goals

Part of your current budget might include saving for a vacation, home renovation, or luxury item. You might also have a 401k. If you have an emergency financial need but no rainy day fund, you might need to use the money you’ve saved for retirement or a European cruise for an unexpected expense.

A rainy day fund helps ensure you’ll have the money you need without taking away savings from other future goals.

Tips for Creating a Rainy Day Fund

Are you ready to create a rainy day fund? It won’t happen overnight, but it isn’t difficult, either. Here are some tips to start saving money for a financial emergency. 

Live Frugally for a Month or Two

You can live frugally for a few months to quickly save enough money for your rainy day fund. This strategy means looking at your typical spending to see which expenses are enjoyable but unnecessary. Limit these expenses for a few months.

Examples of costs you can potentially cut include eating out or getting fast food, drinking alcohol (especially at restaurants), and subscription services. You can also try to limit impulse shopping habits

Don’t worry. You won’t have to avoid all the fun stuff forever! Just limit what you can and put your extra money aside for your rainy day fund. Your savings will grow faster the more you can save each month. Then, you can return to the spending habits you enjoy.

Use Weekly to Create a Fund

Weekly is a budgeting app that helps you understand your weekly spending so you can stop overspending and save for the future. You can use Weekly to help you create a rainy day fund so you know you’ll have money for unexpected financial needs.

With Weekly, the process is easy. Create a “Fund” using the app. Tell Weekly how much you want to contribute to the fund and how often. For example, if you want to contribute $400 a month to an emergency fund, Weekly will automatically convert this to a weekly amount.

When Weekly calculates your weekly Safe to Spend, it will make sure to budget for your rainy day fund goal. You can review the amount in your fund and spend from it as needed.

Soon, you’ll have the money you need in your rainy day fund.

Don’t Wait to Save for a Rainy Day

You never know when you might have an unexpected financial need. Start saving for your rainy day fund today. You’ll be more prepared for a car or home repair, new appliance, accident, or injury.

Visit Weekly to learn how the app can help make it easy to save for unplanned expenses. Weekly makes budgeting and saving easy for everyone.

Who loves spreadsheets? In our latest release (version 2.5.0) we have added the ability to export your transactions to a .csv file to use with your favorite spreadsheet program. Having an export of the data you put into Weekly can unlock your ability to do your own analysis.  For example, you could use your export to do monthly reconciliations, build your own reports, and filter or categorize data to your heart’s desire.  The export includes lots of data including the transaction date, amount, how it was categorized (Safe-to-Spend, Recurring, etc.), which bank account it was linked to, and a category assigned by your financial institution (see below for a full breakdown of all data).

What you can do with exported transaction file

Here are a few ideas of things you could do with the exported file from Weekly.

• Category reports – Create a report to help you see how much you have spent in each of the bank categories.
• Monthly reconciliations – Create a report that shows all your income and expenses over a month.
• Searching transactions – Search through all transactions and see how they have been categorized within Weekly
• Filtering transactions – Ever wanted to see all your recurring transactions in one place? Add filters on your spreadsheet to see just your recurring transactions, fund transactions, or any other grouping.

How you get the CSV file

On the Dashboard you will see an export / download icon.

Tap that icon and then decide if you want to get transactions for “This month”, “Last month”, “This year” or “All transactions”. 

Make your selection then tap “Export transactions (.csv)”.  After the file is downloaded you’ll have the option to share the file using all your native iOS sharing options (Airdrop, google drive, iMessage, etc.) For example, you can Airdrop it to your computer, email it, text it, save it to your files, or save it to another cloud drive (Dropbox or iCloud for example).

Data that is in the CSV

The data that comes in the CSV includes lots of information about each transaction including the category the bank associated with the transaction and how the transaction was handled in Weekly. Here is an explanation of the different types of data in the CSV.

Summary

Exporting a .csv file from Weekly gives you the ability to see all of the transactions that have come into Weekly and then analyze them in your favorite spreadsheet program. Weekly is an excellent tool for helping managing your day-to-day spending habits. Exporting transactions for further analysis helps extend the usefulness of the app by allowing our users to do analysis that looks back to see how and where their money was spent.

Special Note

Have you created a cool spreadsheet report using the exported Weekly data?  Would you like to share?  Let us know; we would love to be able to post it and have other Weekly users use it!

You work hard and your money should work just as hard for you. But if you’re finding that the money disappears before you can even bring it home, don’t despair. It’s not too late to turn things around and keep more money in your paycheck.

Keeping more of your paycheck for yourself doesn’t have to be complicated or require a whole lot of sacrifice. There are some simple steps that you can take which can help you hold on to your money and save more. Having more money to save will help you reach your financial goals and allow you to live your best life.

Taking home more of your paycheck can be as simple as taking advantage of available resources and paying attention. Being mindful of habits and making small changes are other ways to keep more of your money. Read on for some simple steps you can take to maximize your take home income and build your financial freedom.

1. Make The Most Of Your 401(k) Contributions

Jumpstart your retirement savings fund by taking advantage of company perks. Many organizations offer top ups to your 401(k) contributions as a common employee incentive. If your employer matches your 401(k) contributions, that’s free savings money you could be putting towards your retirement.

2. Reassess Your Healthcare Plan

It’s common for employers to allow some customization to healthcare plan options or at least to offer a choice of packages. Check if you can choose a less expensive plan that will still suit your needs or cut out what you are not using to lower deductions and keep more money in your paycheck. If you’re paying for a personal plan, find out if you can get the same coverage through your employer at a better price. Go over the plan your spouse has, or anyone else that you might be covered under, and remove redundancies.

3. Claim Your Expenses

If you regularly incur business expenses while conducting activities required by your job, you should be able to claim them and get some money back. Ask for your employer’s policy on work related expenses such as travel or client meals to see if you are eligible for reimbursement. If you work from home you may be able to claim expenses for office supplies, equipment, or even your internet bill.

4. Take Advantage Of Company Perks

Some employers offer incentives such as subsidized daycare, onsite gym, assistance with tuition, and discounts at local businesses. If you are paying for some of these services already, you might be able to get a discount through your employer and keep more of your money. Just be sure that it was money you were going to spend on these purchases anyway. Getting a good deal is no deal at all if it’s money spent on something you don’t need.

5. Automate Your Savings

Make your financial goals a priority by putting your savings first. Have a portion of your paycheck automatically diverted to a high interest savings account. Tuck your money away before it hits your checking account so that you can’t spend it.

6. Join A Carpool

Carpooling is good for the environment and great for your finances. Driving your car comes with costs. Not only does your vehicle burn gasoline, driving it puts wear and tear on your car and its components. Save on vehicle costs and gas by carpooling and keep more of your money.

7. Don’t Buy Coffee On Your Way To Work

A cup of coffee isn’t expensive but if you make it a habit to buy one on the way to work every day, those little bits of money can really add up. It’s much cheaper to make your cup of coffee at home and bring it with you. If your employer provides coffee it’s completely free and probably already waiting for you at work.

8. Pack Your Lunch

It’s easy to rationalize eating out for lunch when you’re hungry but you can keep more of your money with a little planning. Buying lunch is much more costly than bringing food from home. Prepare a lunch the night before and make it easy for yourself to grab and go on busy mornings.

9. Save Your Raise

Most people respond to getting a raise by spending more. When you get a raise, don’t increase your spending. Increase your savings instead. It’s money you didn’t have before so you won’t miss it and you’ll be able to achieve your savings goals much faster.

10. Adjust Your W-4 Exemptions

When you started working for your employer you provided information which was used to calculate how much of your paycheck should be withheld for tax purposes. If you’re consistently getting a sizable refund, you are having too much money withheld. You need to speak with your employer about adjusting your deductions to help you keep more of your money now instead of waiting for your return.

11. Add Up Your Deductions

Review your pay stubs regularly and do the math to make sure nothing was missed. Verify that you are being paid for all your hours at the correct rate along with any reimbursement for expenses. Check that the correct amounts are being withheld and that you’re not subject to any deductions which you didn’t sign up for such as automatic donations to a charity.

Keep more of your money by paying attention, utilizing what resources you have available, and by making a few better lifestyle choices. With some simple but effective changes you can take home more money and then watch your savings grow. Setting that money aside for your financial goals is the best way to transform your life.

Not sure if you have a good handle on your finances? Need a better way to keep track of your money? Can you use some help with goal setting and staying on track? Weekly can help. A simple user interface and weekly budgeting goals can get you on track and keep you heading in the right direction.