I hear ya man! Me too, life always seems to play the cruellest tricks at the worst possible time when it comes to home finance. If you noticed the enormous reply I made to Kerris on this post, I describe how once I started a family, we had a very meagre start to life and my emergency fund initially started with just £3 per week.

Although I knew that was virtually impossible to have a worthwhile fund that way, I wanted to automatically have that money taken from my account my wage goes in to so I was 'officially' saving, later I gamified the process to grow it faster, I know that without removing that amount (less than a decent coffee) I would never have gotten any further. Sometimes starting is everything and the amount is irrelevant.

Yes we have spent many years struggling against a mountain of debt that grew faster than our common sense when we were young and naïve. I now own all of those past mistakes although I didn't always feel that way.

I was actually accepted for my first ever mortgage yesterday, soon enough that will be my only outstanding debt too before it has even began being paid for and despite the fact I turn 50 next year. 😂

The newfound common sense and understanding the principles of sticking to a budget and money management should see my home paid off in 5 - 7 years.

Your process has probably saved you a small fortune in interest that would perhaps of kept accruing if you had saved for an EF earlier. Different things work for different situations.

It's been a while since we crossed paths, good to see you my friend I am incredibly happy to hear your financial journey is in decent shape. Take good care, best wishes to you and yours from me and mine 🙂