Hit $12,000 in my emergency fund last month and honestly I'm mad about it

Ngl, everyone acts like hitting a big savings milestone is all confetti and high fives. But I saved $12,000 for emergencies over 14 months and I just feel stressed. I got there by eating rice and beans for six months, skipping two hangouts with friends, and driving my beater with no AC through a Tennessee summer. The number matters because it means I have a safety net, but it also showed me how messed up it is that we have to sacrifice basic comfort just to survive one bad month. Why does nobody talk about how demoralizing the grind is to get there? Anyone else feel kinda hollow after hitting their goal?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_mitchell537d ago

Does that feeling of being hollow come more from the actual cost of living, or from realizing this is the bar for "safe" in this country? Because saving twelve grand shouldn't mean skipping the life part of your life for over a year. Just seems like the whole system is designed to wear us down before we even get a chance to breathe.

terry_barnes6d agoTop Commenter

Yeah wait, did anyone else's parents have that thing where they'd buy the "store brand" of everything but then splurge on ONE random fancy item? My mom would buy generic ketchup and off-brand cereal but then drop $8 on imported fancy olive oil. Like the logic was just GONE. That's kinda how this feels - we're supposed to cut every corner on the basics but then somehow afford the big stuff? It doesn't add up.