My wife is an educator. She recently gave birth to our third child, a baby girl. Mommy and baby are doing great. Our older kids are adjusting and they are having so much fun, learning to feed and hold the new baby.

The timing of the birth worked out great. My wife will be home until school lets out in May - and she’ll be able to stay at home during the summer. Altogether, she’ll get more than 4 months with baby, before school starts back, next fall.

As you might imagine, due to the fact that she’ll miss the last few weeks of school, her paychecks over the next four months will be reduced. The actual amount of the reduction will be based on the number of sick days and personal leave days she had remaining, prior to the delivery, and the number of days she actually misses. Suffice to say, things will be a little ‘tight’ around the old NCN household, but we are prepared!

Why? Because, we have an emergency fund! With six months worth of expenses, set aside in our Orange Savings Account, we should be just fine.

Four years ago, when our son was born, we used credit cards to cover the gap between actual and expected income. But, not now. No, now we will use the funds in our savings account, to make up for the lost income. In fact, so far, we are doing just fine, living off of my income alone. But, should we need it, the money is there.

It’s amazing how much better we feel about our current situation, knowing that we have our emergency fund, and that it’s there if we need it. Plus, instead of worrying about paying back our creditors, we can focus on enjoying the new baby!