About a year ago, as the economy seemed to be going nowhere but down, I started to read financial blogs where prudent writers spoke of the need for an emergency fund. I never had one and decided to start saving for it. The trouble was that I had too many obligations already. So where to start? I decided to do all of the following:

• Pursue any bank offer of free money.
• Do it twice (for hubby and me).
•  Sign up for trial memberships that offered free gift cards.
• Obtain rebates from credit cards.
• Complete surveys online.
• Never ignore an offer however small.

All of that resulted in about $1500 by the end of the year. I am now the proud owner of an emergency fund. My plan is to add to it with more free money offers.

Some would say it was not really free since  I spent time filling out applications, browsing the Internet for offers, following requirements, etc. However, it is money I obtained from the comfort of home and that I would not have otherwise.

I will share some of the details in a future post.

Have any of you started an emergency fund with basically free money?