Congratulations! You’ve stored enough of your earnings to have a fully funded emergency fund.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) you now have to use it. And you may not know for how long. A major challenge of living off of the emergency fund is having to make choices about downsizing your lifestyle. This is challenging of course because it’s been your lifestyle for so long it may difficult to realize where cuts are needed in order to choose between essentials and conveniences.
When you began saving you estimated how much you’d need for essential expenses. For example, transportation is a need; realistically you’re not going to stay locked inside all day. The other day I got off the train and checked my phone to see that the next bus I needed to get home would be over 45 minutes! Just inhumane, especially as the temperature was below freezing and the actual bus ride wouldn't be more than 15 minutes. I’d been budgeting for taxi rides in these instances. however in this case, I couldn’t justify a taxi as an essential expense but my only other choices were to freeze and wait or freeze and walk. I choose to walk.
It would have been easy to classify the expense as essential when it’s actually more of a convenience. The taxi would have saved me time but I didn’t need to urgently get anywhere other than to the warmth of my home. Walking provided my daily exercise and even if I choose to wait, I could have sat inside a nearby shop and used my time productively. Taking a taxi would have avoided the inconvenience of waiting in the cold but it wasn’t essential to get to my destination.
When your emergency fund because your primary income source you may find yourself making these choices more regularly. Just like in times of bounty, your budget should always reflect your priorities. If getting home quickly regardless of the context was my priority, I would have taken the taxi. We all must decide for ourselves where the balance lies between stretching limited funds and living happily. To the extent you can, I encourage you to think about what inconveniences you could bare while not in a moment of need.