Anonymous wrote:My cushion is my savings account that is attached to my checking - the bank will pull whatever is needed to cover an unexpected overage, without charge to me.
I have direct deposit twice a month, and I have structured my expenses so I have enough to cover expenses (the rest is automatically transferred to savings). I look at my account twice a month, and if I have a very large expense, I'll transfer money in to cover it (essentially, this usually means to cover the higher credit card bill). So I've almost never had to rely on the bank transferring from the back-up savings.
+1