Emergency Funds

I've seen the idea of emergency funds come up differently lately with the current economic climate. The old 3-6 months worth of expenses rule of thumb is coming with more exceptions. For example, households with one income or where one of the employed has a position that would be hard to replace should have more than 6 months stashed away. The idea of having a year's worth of expenses sitting around in a cash-equivalent kills me, though. So my revised plan is to have the first 6 months in cash equivalents (done) and start working toward having the next 6 months in whatever I want provided it's easily accessible. For me that mostly means a total market index fund with low expenses. I also hold very small amounts in two stocks and a small amount in a more conservative mutual fund. It has always been my plan to build those investments, but now I have a more pressing goal. So that's cool. And I'm already on my way thanks to the first time homebuyer's tax credit.