Having money set aside for a rainy day is a task that many women were taught early on. You just never know when you might need to dip into an account and grab a few hundred, or thousand dollars, to tide you over or to get you out of a jam. Yet, as hard as you may try to squeeze money out of your household budget, there never seems to be much extra to put towards your savings. Forced to handle the finances at hands, your emergency fund takes a back seat – and then something happens.

The car breaks down, the kid’s tuition is due, you were out of work a few days last week and got a smaller than anticipated paycheck… the list goes on. It never seems to fail. You fix one thing and something else goes wrong. While it’d be nice to have a savings account to solve some of these problems when they arise, a tight budget has helped you from building one.

Have a Backup Plan in the Meantime

Since it can take a while to build a significant rainy day fund, you’ll need to have a backup plan. If you’re in a short-term jam, these options might suffice:

Online lender – Banks are harder than ever to borrow funds from. Not only must you have a decent income and good credit, you’re required to have collateral and the wait time can be weeks. Online lenders, on the other hand, have options like payday loan alternatives or installment loans. They are small lump sums of cash typically no more than $1250, which can be used for emergency reasons. With no credit checks, minimal income required, no collateral, and a deposit within 24 hours of being approved, this has been an option many turn to.

Retirement Account – If you’ve been saving for your future through a retirement or pension account, you may have an option to borrow on the account. There are generally no eligibility requirements and applicants can receive as much as half of their account balance. Repayments will require interest rates and are typically required to be paid back within 2-5 years. Failure to do so could result in tax penalties for early withdrawal so this option should be taken with caution.

Ways to Boost the Rainy Day Fund

Now that you know where you can turn if you’re in a bind right now, it’s time to figure out how you can add some money to your rainy day account. If you haven’t been successful in finding spare cash in your household budget, you might consider finding ways to make more money. This does not have to be another full-time job either. There are a lot of things you can do on the weekends or in your spare time to bring in additional funds. Some options include:

Focus Groups – If you often give your opinion on products and services that you purchase or are interested in seeing on the market, you might make a great candidate for a focus group. Designed to help companies determine the quality of their products and services, focus groups are comprised of a few select individuals who voice their opinions. Depending on where you’re hired you could make a few bucks or several hundred bucks.

Mystery Shopping – Shopping is something moms do all the time, but what if you could make money while you’re doing it? There are companies who pay mystery shoppers to help them gather reports on products, services, customer service, facility cleanliness, and more. You can choose which stores you’d like to shop in. You’re often reimbursed for the purchase of one item and paid for your feedback.

Clean Out Your Closet – You may believe you don’t have the money to add to your rainy day fund, but if you were to clean out your closet, what treasures would you find? Every woman is guilty of harboring some outfit, jewelry, or accessory that they never wear. Take the things out of your closet and sell them online through an app or visit a local consignment shop to get top dollar for your designer clothing and shoes.

Though it would be nice to only experience good days and sunshine, sometimes the rain comes rolling in. The best way to be prepared to weather the storm would be to have an emergency savings account totaling at least three to six months of your monthly salary. This way, should trouble arise you don’t have to look to friends and family or put yourself further into debt.