5 Tips for Building Your Savings Account Back Up After an Emergency

Saving for emergencies is absolutely crucial, with Pew Research showing 6 in 10 households experienced an unexpected financial shock over the prior 12 months.

Unfortunately, once you have an emergency, a good amount of that money you worked so hard to put into your savings account could end up being used to cover the surprise costs. That's not a problem since that's what the money is there for. But if another emergency happens soon after, you could be at risk of ending up in the credit card debt you tried so hard to avoid since you'd no longer have the financial reserves to see you through.

This isn't an uncommon situation, with the same Pew Research study also revealing that a third of households had two or more unexpected financial shocks in the prior year. The good news is, you can reduce the chances you'll need to rely on an already-drained emergency fund by saving up the money to replace what you took out ASAP. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.

1. Pause extra debt payments

If you've been working on paying extra on your debt, it's worth pausing that effort and redirecting that money back into your emergency fund until it gets back to where you need it to be (which usually means having three to six months of living expenses saved).

While it may be annoying to stop your extra payments, it would be far worse to have an emergency when your rainy day fund is empty and be forced to borrow again as you're trying to dig yourself out of your hole. This could be discouraging and cause you to lose momentum.

Depending on how much you had to take out of your emergency fund, ideally you will only have to pause debt payments for a short while -- especially if you also implement some of these other techniques. As soon as your emergency account balance is back where it should be, you can start up again.

2. Consider a side job

Side hustles earn an average of $483 every month. If you are able to jump into working a side gig for just a little while, this can help you to replenish your emergency savings. Just remind yourself that it's only temporary until you have the funds you need to provide peace of mind and protection from disaster.

3. Save "found money"

While you are trying to build your emergency fund back up, it makes good sense to divert money you don't have other plans for toward this goal. So, for example, if you get a tax refund that you don't need to pay for bills or other necessities, put it in the bank. Same thing for cash gifts for birthdays or holidays, or an unexpected bonus you get at work.

Your emergency fund needs this money to get back to a safe level more than you need it for other non-necessities, so don't waste the chance to use these free dollars to get back your security.

4. Sell unnecessary items

Chances are good you probably have stuff around the house you aren't using. Consider listing it on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist to see if anyone will pay you for it. If you can sell things you don't need, you'll not only get more money to put away for emergencies, but you can also declutter your space.

5. Slash your budget temporarily

Finally, consider making big budget cuts to expenses like entertainment and dining out until you have your emergency account fully funded again.

You shouldn't have to do this for too long, depending again on how much you took out of your emergency money in the first place. And since you just relied on your savings to get you through a tough spot and you know how important it is to have that financial cushion, you may be able to stay motivated to make those short-term sacrifices.

By taking these steps, you should be able to get your emergency account built back up quickly. Then you will once again benefit from the financial security that comes from knowing a bump in the road won't derail your personal finances for years to come.