Yikes! Yes. This is a major roadblock and is sure to leave anyone defeated for sure. This was, in fact, my biggest fear of working towards paying off my student loans! I didn’t have a whole lot of room for error or surprises. But, that’s when a little forward thinking comes into play when you’re setting up your budget. You should be saving a tiny bit every month for your annual expenses. And, before you started tackling your debt, you should make your emergency fund priority number 1. You need to have money on hand to take care of bigger expenses.