What's the Best Way to Pay for Unplanned Expenses?

An emergency loan is a lump sum of money a borrower can get quickly to cover an unexpected expense, like medical bills or car repairs. Personal loans are the best type of emergency loan, but you can also use home equity loans and lines of credit, credit cards, and other borrowing methods to cover emergency expenses.

The best emergency loans are from LightStream because the company offers funding as soon as the same day you apply, loan amounts of $5,000 - $100,000 and APRs of 7.44% - 25.79%. You'll need a credit score of at least 660 to qualify. LightStream isn't your only option, though. You can read more about the best emergency loans below.

Best Emergency Loans

To learn more, check out WalletHub's full review of the best emergency loans. Then, you can estimate your potential rates with our free pre-qualification tool.

Finally, if you're in a pinch for cash, you should also consider some alternatives to conventional loans. Using a credit card, getting a loan from a friend or family member, or getting a paycheck advance from a service like Dave or Earnin may be better options for you.

As mentioned in the other two answers, the typical number is 3 to 6 months of expenses that should be kept in an emergency fund. Now however, many experts are saying 9 to 12 months. These are cookie cutter numbers that may not fit you individually but are meant as a general guide. You should take several factors into consideration.

One of the biggest factors is your job. How replaceable are you and how...

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If you need to borrow money fast, you can take out a personal loan, charge your expenses to a credit card, or borrow from a friend or family member. You can also borrow money from a loan app, pawn shop, or payday lender, but keep in mind that these options can be quite expensive.

9 Ways to Borrow Money Fast

1. Personal Loan From an Online Lender
2. Credit Card Purchase
3. Home Equity...

To budget for non-recurring expenses, make a list of all your expenses that don't occur monthly (such as gifts, travel, and home repairs), add up what you spent on them in the past year, and divide the amount by 12. This is roughly the amount you will need to save each month to cover non-recurring expenses for the year.

How to Budget for Non-Recurring Expenses

Make a list of your non-recurring expenses from...

You should budget 1% - 4% of your home's value for maintenance every year. That means if your house is valued at $400,000, you should save $4,000 to $16,000 per year for things like lawn care, home upgrades, and emergency repairs for plumbing or electrical issues.

Other methods to determine how much to budget for home maintenance include the square footage rule and the 10% rule.

• Square footage rule:This rule requires...

To budget for variable expenses, you should first make a list of your expenses that differ from month to month, such as food and gas, then add up what you paid for each in the past year and divide that amount by 12 to find the average monthly cost. You can then include the average for each expense in your monthly budget.

How to Budget for Variable Expenses

1. List your variable expenses for the past year. 

Variable expenses are costs that are hard to predict since they don't stay the same every month. Some examples of variable expenses can include:

• Groceries
• Dining out
• Gas
• Clothes
• Entertainment (concerts, sporting events, movies, etc.)
• Travel
• Utilities
• Health care
• Car and home repairs

2. Add up the amounts. 

Add up how much you paid for each variable expense over the course of the year. You can check your credit card or bank statements for the past year to get the details.

3. Divide the total amounts by 12.

Once you have the total for the year, divide that amount by 12 to know how much you should budget each month for each expense. For example, if you spent $5,000 on groceries last year, you should budget about $417 a month for them in the coming year.

4. Include the amounts in your monthly budget.

Add the average monthly amount for each variable expense to your budget along with your other expenses. You can use a spreadsheet or a budgeting app, like WalletHub, to do this.

5. Review and adjust if needed.

Regularly review your budget to make sure you are not spending more than what you budgeted for each variable expense. If you are, you will either have to cut back spending in that category or allocate more money to the expense.

Finally, remember that variable expenses are just some of your monthly expenses. You will also have fixed expenses, such as your mortgage or insurance premiums, that you will need to factor into your budget. To learn more, check out WalletHub's guide on how to budget for fixed expenses.

You should spend no more than 80% of your income on your expenses, with 50% going to your needs (like housing, food, and utilities) and 30% going to discretionary spending. If you allocate the remaining 20% to savings, you'll be following the popular 50/30/20 rule. Even if you use different budget percentages or categories, keeping your expenses below 80% of your income can allow you to save for the future and help prevent you from...

Some of the best ways to save money on a tight budget include avoiding impulse buys, using free budgeting tools, comparison shopping, negotiating bills and automating your saving. These steps prevent you from paying more than you have to and help you save money for more important things.

Make a Budget

Best Ways to Save Money on a Tight Budget

1. Avoid impulse purchases

Buying items that you don't need on a whim...

First of all, congratulations on being mindful of your monthly expenses/savings. If it doens't already, your budget should include your income as well as your expenses. Once you have totalled each of those against each other, see what you're left with. Assuming your expenses are below your income, can then decide how much of the excess you want to save, and how much you'll allow yourself to spend on miscellaneous items. 

Let's say after you...