If you are working on getting out of debt make sure you have at least a one month emergency savings fund that is used only for emergencies. If money is removed from this fund, then it is built back up as soon as possible after.
If getting to one month seems too big of a step start with $1,000 (see Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step 1 to getting out of debt)
“You should work to build a one-month emergency fund as fast as possible. Put any extra money you have toward your emergency fund until it is complete. Even if you have debt, make only the minimum required debt payment until you have built a one-month emergency fund. To help speed up this process, you may want to find extra or better work, sell some things you can live without, or eliminate some unnecessary expenses.” – Self Reliance Personal Finance manual
Once you have reached this mark of a 3-6 month emergency savings fund you can start looking at putting extra money in other areas of savings, such as retirement and investments.
Be Prepared Seattle 