# Can you pay for a $1000 emergency expense without borrowing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181 "2011-08-26T14:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/81 "2011-08-29T15:04:39Z")
I answered “yes”, but I’m not American. While I’ve met some Spaniards who lived check-to-check while employed, I’ve met a much higher percentage of Americans who did. I don’t think it’s due to moving in different social circles in both countries, these people have similar jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Sehmket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Sehmket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sehmket)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/82 "2011-08-29T15:28:46Z")
Looking at this question at first, my gut answer would have been a laugh and a “no!” - My husband and I both work in the tech sector, with decent jobs, but I had a minor surgery this year, my husband was in a small car accident, we ended up having to move unexpectedly, we’ve had some other car expenses come up… our savings is sitting at about $100 right now. But… then people were saying, “well, I could put it on the credit card.” And while we live paycheck to paycheck, our credit’s in the high 700s, and we could get a card if we applied without a problem (we’ve done so a few times, but currently have no cards). So, by that logic, yes, I could - but I’d rather borrow from my brother, who’s got about 35k sitting in the bank (very low living expenses, very good job, and too workaholic to bother to go see someone about investing. I’ve even set up appointments for him with a guy that he’s skipped), and lets us pay back in really irregular intervals. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/83 "2011-08-29T15:47:02Z")
Yes, I could cover $1,000. I don’t have health insurance (shopping for a plan now) so I actually keep $10,000 combined savings/checking for emergencies. I don’t have much more than $10,000 and between bills and flight lessons I’m basically living pay check to pay check w/ a big ass cushion. I was depressed in college and racked up some self-destructive credit card debt, about $6,000. Parental intervention forced my to pull my head out of my ass. I paid all my bills on time, I lived on deer meat and PB&J, I walked, I whittled my debt away in about 8 months. A lot of people find themselves in much worse shape than I was but I think all you can do is make a realistic long-term plan and chip away at the problem. If I found myself unable to cover a $1,000 emergency, I would consider that a problem. Edit to Sehmket - it sounds like you had 3 emergencies that you managed to cover without going into debt, that’s pretty damned good in the face of a lot of misfortune. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/84 "2011-08-29T15:55:41Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I have noted that it was an “online poll” conducted by the NFCC. However, I have a hard time believing these numbers can be anywhere closes to reality. Here is the link to the [original press release](http://www.nfcc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/FLOI_July2011Results_FINAL.cfm). It does not give additional information about methodology, but it looks like anyone who visited their home page could complete the survey. Naturally the people most likely to visit are those who are having credit problems to begin with. If survey respondents were self-selected then the survey results aren’t worth a bucket of warm shit. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/85 "2011-08-29T16:34:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > It was a different time. If we were to roll back and live like that - no cable or internet, public transportation for most of our needs, the majority of food on our tables coming from raw materials like flour - and much of it out of our own gardens - wearing a house dress that would last a decade (and which you sewed yourself) - we probably could raise a family on one income, too. And you would DESTROY THE WORLD! Remember, it’s YOUR spending that’s keeping the party afloat! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/86 "2011-08-29T17:32:27Z")
I could definitely come up with $1000 for an emergency, no problem. About six years ago there was an emergency that required me to come up with $17,000 within a month, and I was able to do it. Not all of it came out of my checking account, of course, I had to sell some investments. But I did it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/87 "2011-08-29T19:05:34Z")
No, and I vehemently resent the idea that I and the majority of the people I know must be stupid because we’re not in the monetary class to which you subscribe. As for those people who say we should have a year’s worth of salary, my response is, “How should I send you my address?” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/88 "2011-08-29T19:07:44Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > And you would DESTROY THE WORLD! Remember, it’s YOUR spending that’s keeping the party afloat! 😃 There is a lot of truth in that. ---
**Author:** ![impatien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@impatien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/impatien)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/89 "2011-09-02T22:59:33Z")
I work with several people who talk about every detail of their financial situation every day. They haven’t got anything left at the end of the two-week pay period–ever. From what they discuss, I can say they are totally clueless about money. They shop at the most expensive grocery stores, tithe religiously to the church (stupid IMO, sorry) and make several other stupid decisions with money all the time, and don’t save a dime. I don’t doubt the 64% figure from everything I hear. Yes, we have plenty in savings, but I am frugal to the max. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/90 "2011-09-02T23:16:49Z")
I’m unemployed, and yes, I have $1000.00 cash. I’ve cashed in a considerable chunk of my 401K. Unless I find a job soon, that won’t last long though. Then I’ll really be fucked. Oh, and the latest advice from the media mavens on finding a job? Do volunteer work. That’s right, work for no pay. Not just work for no benefits which seems to be becoming more and more the rule these days. Work for free. Like a serf. Now, can you see why Americans don’t have that $1000.00 cash? ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/91 "2011-09-03T01:47:19Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I’m unemployed, and yes, I have $1000.00 cash. > > I’ve cashed in a considerable chunk of my 401K. > > Unless I find a job soon, that won’t last long though. Then I’ll really be fucked. > > Oh, and the latest advice from the media mavens on finding a job? Do volunteer work. > > That’s right, work for no pay. Not just work for no benefits which seems to be becoming more and more the rule these days. Work for free. Like a serf. > > Now, can you see why Americans don’t have that $1000.00 cash? People who advise volunteering mean for it to be a way to get you out of the house and meeting people who may know of someone hiring or be hiring themselves. It is a means to an end not a form of slavery. It is the whole “who you know” principle. If you are out there meeting people rather than staying isolated at home you are more likely to interact with people and find an opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/92 "2011-09-03T02:22:49Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > The advice is to have 3-6 (or 6-12) months _living expenses_ in savings. If you are a dedicated saver, this can be really different from having 3-6 months salary. In fact, I found the easiest way by far to reach this point was to reduce my living expenses dramatically. This helped twice: one, the magic number got much smaller, and two, I was saving much more towards it each month! That makes a lot more sense than 3 month’s income, even post-tax. I think most people I know could come up with that amount of money, but it would be at the expense of know that they could definitely pay their next month’s rent. We can’t afford to buy houses - or tiny flats; I live in London and yeah, we could move out of London, but then we’d either not have jobs or have commutes that cost too much financially for it to be worth it. We don’t have cars; the public transport system is OK and parking and petrol costs tons. Holidays are cheap, if you want them to be - go and visit a friend in Barcelona, flying via Ryanair, and it can be almost as cheap as staying at home. The latter two are actually good things in most ways. What are you saving up for? If you’re not saving up _for_ something, you’re less likely to have cash available for emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/93 "2011-09-03T02:40:43Z")
> [@keturah](#): > > People who advise volunteering mean for it to be a way to get you out of the house and meeting people who may know of someone hiring or be hiring themselves. It is a means to an end not a form of slavery. It is the whole “who you know” principle. If you are out there meeting people rather than staying isolated at home you are more likely to interact with people and find an opportunity. Yeah, I’ve heard that, and I think the whole “getting jobs by who you know” school of hiring should be banned by law if we’re going to get people back to work in this country. I network. There was a guy I used to talk to at the Starbucks I frequent who happened to mention that he had a lot of filing that needed to be organized. Of course, I offered my services right away, saying that I had thirty years in office organization. He nodded and smiled. And since then, he actively avoids me. I never even mentioned being paid to do it, although I would’ve brought it up had he seemed interested. So, thanks to networking, I am less one friendly acquaintance, and I have one more awkward social situation. And no job, no money. Networking sucks. No reason volunteering would improve it. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/94 "2011-09-03T02:45:41Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > No, I could not. > > I have less than $2 in my checking account until next week. > I’m on disability, I receive $850 a month from the government, $77 less than April 2009. > (yes, I know, I’m a burden on society, I get that, thank you) > > My mother is in the same situation. Please don’t think of yourself as a burden on society if you are on disability legitimately. That’s why our society collects that money. I wish you could get more because I imagine it is very hard to live on that. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/95 "2011-09-03T02:53:32Z")
> [@keturah](#): > > People who advise volunteering mean for it to be a way to get you out of the house and meeting people who may know of someone hiring or be hiring themselves. It is a means to an end not a form of slavery. It is the whole “who you know” principle. If you are out there meeting people rather than staying isolated at home you are more likely to interact with people and find an opportunity. They also recommend it because it keeps your skills up to date (if you do volunteering for a non-profit in your field - in the dark ages I built a client database for a non-profit, I just finished building a small website for another) and because it looks better on your resume than “I filled out applications and responded to Monster postings for nine months.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/96 "2011-09-03T03:01:22Z")
As I have a line of credit to pay off, but which itself has quite a lot of immediately available credit on it with no fee for moving the money into my checking account, it makes no sense for me to emphasize savings right now; logically, all my extra money should go into the LOC to reduce interest payments. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/97 "2011-09-03T10:47:39Z")
To answer the OP, yes I can, easily. Most of my friends, however, variously employed, couldn’t pay even half that (I know, I’m the one they borrow from in just such situations). Whatever money they manage to get is always immediately gone to pay for past debts and loans. I’m not American, if that’s pertinent. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/98 "2011-09-03T15:10:22Z")
Yes, we could easily access $1000, as needed. We keep an “oh shit” fund in an interest bearing (hardly any interest these days, but whatever) account that gets paid first – auto deducted from our checking account after each pay period. In reality, we would probably put it on a card for the points/cash back (because that’s how we get gift cards for movies and stores, which is the play money) and then pay it off in full. That fund was reassuring when I was unemployed last year. I was fortunate enough to find another job before we had to tap into it, but knowing it was there and that we had some wiggle room to adjust our lifestyles as necessary or learn to live on one salary certainly helped us to sleep at night. I can’t imagine living at the edge of my means, when both of us are employed and we have ways to control costs. We have friends who make as much as we do, but always seem to be short on money – even as they continue to buy more stuff. My frugal nature just doesn’t allow it. I feel very blessed that we have an income that allows us the opportunity to save (because I know not everyone does). But I am also very conscious of our responsibility to save FIRST then buy toys, or clothes, or pay the cable bill, or go on a vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/99 "2011-09-03T20:53:53Z")
Yes, I could pay 1,000 without any delay. 5,000 would take a few hours, and 10,000 would take 2 or 3 business days. I try not to keep too much liquid, but what kind of emergency would legitimately require more than a thousand dollars that couldn’t wait for a few days? My wife and I together are at the low end of income for professionals. We can’t pick too many luxuries for example, but we can build a college fund for our son, drive a new car, and still have some left over for savings. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181/100 "2011-09-03T22:27:40Z")
I voted yes. Like **Unintentionally Blank** , I’m a government worker suffering the death of a thousand cuts. I’ve been looking at the job market and its very bleak. My 1,000 in small bills is in my gunsafe. That money is only for _OMG, there is a major disaster happening and nobody can use plastic for a week and I’ve ran out of catfood!!!_ Its also useful for bailing friends out at 3 am on a Sunday morning, but it gets replaced the following Monday. With the exception of the above named problems, I can’t think of any emergency that money would be good for. If I have a catastrophic health issue, 1,000 wouldn’t scratch the surface. My car finally dies? That’s not even a down payment. I lose my job? That would pay the mortgage and keep the utilities on for a month. I guess my point is that having a $1,000 cushion really isn’t a cushion at all. Which sounds odd from someone who is used to having less than $10.00 in accessable funds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pay-for-a-1000-emergency-expense-without-borrowing/594181.md?page=6)