<prompt> Human: I have a secure job, good income, own property, and keep a simple lifestyle. I know the conventional wisdom is to have an emergency fund for 3-6 months of living costs, but I never really took it seriously because of my comfortable situation.I kept just enough in my chequing account for the monthly bills, my mortgage, etc about 2000-3000. The rest went straight to savings ie: investments I cant touch.Then I gambled even further - I paid a gym membership up front for a year, instead of the monthly payments. I saved a few hundred bucks this way, and told myself it was worth it in the long run. My buffer was depleted.Then my furnace died, and a few surprise bills came in the mail, all within a week or two. This is the first time I havent been able to pay something off in full, and it stressed the crap out of me. I paid off the surprise bills, and deferred the furnace payment for 6 months, at no interest. Now I have to come up with 4000 in less than 6 months.Everything is stressful now. I cant: buy alcohol go out to restaurants treat my girlfriend it was her birthday yesterday, and I had to scale back her gift immensely - all I got her was a book, unwrapped, no card. I wrote something on the inside of the cover instead catch a cab.I want to buy YNAB now that my trial has expired, and I cant even do that, despite it being the smartest tool I could have to recover from this situation.Do not underestimate the stress that can come from not having a buffer. Keep an emergency fund. When you have it, you feel like you dont need it, but when you dont... man, life sucks.tl dr; Read the bold stuff.Edit: Thanks everyone for your responses - it helped get my head around some things, and reassure me Im not in such a bad place yet.Also, I wont say who for their own privacy, but someone gifted me with YNAB! Thanks so much yet again! Once Im back in a comfortable place, Ill be sure to pass on the generosity, in the form of Reddit Gold or a YNAB license for a fellow rpersonalfinance subscriber!  <response>: Man, whoever gifted you YNAB is an awesome person. That made my day. Ive bought for a couple family members who asked me about money management. 