Welcome to 2021!! The year where the only thing we’re hoping for is that it will be better than the dumpster fire of 2020. I’m sure many of you are working on your New Year’s resolutions, I know I am. If 2020 has taught me nothing else, it’s the importance of having an emergency fund and living on a budget.

The year 2020 was the most unexpected turn of events for the world. My house was not immune to its tumultuous nature. I learned while on vacation in New Jersey (just hours before my brother was to be married) that I would be 100% furloughed in mid-October through June 30, 2021. Previously, I had narrowly escaped a furlough in July thanks to a grant we had received. That near miss had already put me on edge. Even though I was somewhat prepared, it didn’t take the sting out of it.

I couldn’t believe it. I had told my husband repeatedly about this very possibility and the importance of saving during this crazy time and yet, I was the one in shock. He wound up being the one who propped me up after receiving the news. He reassured me that this is why we had worked so hard to build up our emergency fund. Luckily, we didn’t have to panic. He was right.

The shock of the news still hurt, but it didn’t hurt because I thought we’d be in financial ruin with four kids ages one to six, but because I was passionate about the work I was doing and the people I worked with are some of the best co-workers I’ve had. I was able to be sad about no longer working with my co-workers. Being able to focus on the people part of my loss rather than stressing over our finances was really helpful in navigating through this tough time.

Because we had followed the Dave Ramsey plan we had built up enough cash to be able to survive, at least for a little while, on one income and meager unemployment. What a blessing!

Now I know you may be the person that is thinking, “Not me. I just don’t see how I can do that.” I hear you! We didn’t either. In 2017 we had close to $23,000 in debt (credit cards, personal loans, and cars). By 2019 we had ZERO debt (not including our mortgage) and we never want to have debt again!

First, we had to start working in the same direction. We couldn’t just swipe the credit card for every purchase, emergency, or perceived emergency and hope that our paychecks had enough to cover us at the end of the month. We had to get on the same page so that we wouldn’t have more month than we had money. Trust me, there were many arguments over money especially in the early days of this process. What we learned is that it was less about the money and more about the communication and goals we were paddling towards.

Once that was in place, we had to figure out where our money was going. Turns out we were spending WAY too much on eating out, our grocery bill was excessive and needed a trim, and our debts were killing us. It gave us an opportunity to figure out what kind of changes to make.

It started with a budget and a cash only system. With a little elbow grease and a lot of commitment we did it! We paid off our debts and managed to build a decent emergency fund, which was just in time for 2020 when we needed it to survive while I was between jobs.

I was blessed to be able to find something so quickly and we didn’t have to live off our emergency fund for long. We even funded Christmas, our property taxes, new tires, and new brakes and rotors without debt all in the last month of the year!

So even though 2020 was hard for so many reasons, it was full of important lessons. I’m taking this money lesson forward to rebuild our emergency fund in case 2021 brings us something new and unexpected. Because you never know what could happen.