Worksheet · Free PDF
Emergency floor worksheet
Essential-cost inventory, floor target, build schedule.
Three to six months of expenses is not a law of nature. It is an average, and you are not an average. Start with what it actually costs to keep the lights on if income stopped — rent, utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, the minimum on any debts.
Multiply that number by three and by six. Somewhere between those two ends is your floor. Pick a number that fits your actual risks, write it down, and build it in stages. The first $1,000 changes your life more than the jump from $13,000 to $14,000 does.
Download the PDF (US Letter)What's on the sheet
- List essentials, not full spending — Rent, utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, minimum debt payments. Nothing you could pause in a lean month.
- Multiply by three and by six — The two ends of the standard range, computed from your own numbers rather than someone else’s.
- Pick a number, write it down, build it in stages — First $1,000, then one month of essentials, then the small end, then the target. Slow is fine.
Plumb is financial education, not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.