If you don't have a financial safety net - it might be something you should think about getting started ASAP! How long could you and your family survive if you lost your job today? A few years ago I lost my job because I suffered a lower back injury and couldn't work. We had no savings and lived month-to-month on my pay check. We had no ways to pay our bills while I recovered, so we had to start some unconventional side hustles to make ends meet. We sold stuff on eBay (Weird things you can sell on eBay to make money).
My point is that we never saw the income drop coming. If we had just had 3-6 months of living expenses in savings, we would have been a lot less stressed. Ever since then we have always made an effort yo have a minimum of 6 months of living expenses in savings. This is our financial safety net.
We started putting money aside that we would normally just spend on eating out, going to moveies or buying the latest fancy TV. We put the money into a savings account that pays 2.5% interest. Every penny goes into the savings account - any tax refunds, unexpected income etc.
We always aim to lower our living expenses rather than upgrading our lifestyle as we save more money. Most people do the opposite - they are always striving for a bigger house, car or increasing luxury.
One of the best things we did to make a financial safety net was diversifying our income. After my back injury incident, I swore that I would never be dependent on a single source of income ever again. We started to make extra money online with paid surveys, blogging, flipping stuff on eBay, testing websites, trading stocks, freelance writing, freelance proofreading, teaching English online and much more (How to make $50 an hour online).
These diverse and numerous income streams have provided us with a nice safety net. Many of the income streams don't require a direct exchange of time for money - they are passive or recurring. The work has already been done (like writing an eBook that you sell on Amazon) but income from it continues to flow in.
My job that I lost when I hurt my back paid well. The problem was that we were in the mindset of living in the moment and spending everything as soon as it came in. We just assumed that 'job security' was a real thing and didn't really pay much attention to the idea that it could all disapear in the blink of an eye.
It was a blessing in disguise though - now we are much more secure and our financial safety net is extensive and there is no single point of potential failure.
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