Earlier this year I had to fly overseas unexpectedly to see my best friend who was seriously ill. It was a stressful situation for many reasons, but thankfully money wasn’t one of them.

Thanks to my emergency fund, which I set up exactly for scenarios like this, the question of “Can I afford to go?” wasn’t even part of the equation. I knew I had to go no matter what and used my fund to make it happen.

Budgeting isn’t something I’ve always done. I tried budgeting apps as a student out of curiosity but wasn’t able to stick with it. It seemed like a lot of work only to make you feel guilty about the state of your finances.