have you got a 'cushion' of cash behind you for 'just in case'

[Deleted User]

I was talking to some friends the other day and we were wondering if somethig dreadful happened to the banking system (as is happening in Greece) what sort of provision (apart from food) do you have as a back up plan.I know a lot of folk are brassic at the moment but I have always liked to have a little of 'The sky has got to fall in before I touch it ' money.
What old biddies like me used to call 'rainy day money' You know the sort of things for dire emegencies.We were talking about it as one of the ladies said that if the civil servants went on strike how would pensions be paid .Some folk not only rely on their pensions or benefits to get through the week. but to buy basic essentials .
I do have a small stash of ready money I keep indoors but I don't like to keep much cash around for safetys sake.
I'm thinking for example if there were a 'run' on the banks how would you get your money .before WW2 not many folk had bank accounts anyway, so often lived from day to day or week to week,hoping that something would turn up miraculously

Caroline73_2

We moved house a few months ago so used our rainy day money towards a deposit. We are waiting for a Ppi claim to payout, its been awarded but not paid out yet. This will give us 4 months mortgage payment in savings which we will build on.

We both work and have good sickness/redundancy/unemployment packages so that adds a bit of security for us.

I don't know what we would do if we couldn't access it, but I wouldn't feel happy with large amounts of cash at home. I often can't lay my hands on enough for the children's dinner money.

hilstep2000

I have bit in premium bonds, so I canb't get to it too easily! Thougth if I did need it it wouldn't take too long to get it. At the moment all spare cash is paying debts accrued from my DD's wedding!

rinabean

I wouldn't ever keep money at home in this country. In a lot of countries it's safer than the banks, but I don't think it is here. I wouldn't like to be proved wrong, though, haha! I have an "emergency £20" and loose change and that's it. Not proper money.

My husband and I are trying to build up savings so we can get our own place (live with his parents atm), so we could use those. If it ever came to the point where you really couldn't access your savings, what would you want them for, anyway? If it's temporary, tell whoever's asking for money whilst aware of the state of things where to shove it. If it's permanent and just your bank, you'll get it refunded by the government, but this is why I don't keep all the money in one bank (and make sure it's not the same bank with a different name). If it's permanent and not just your bank, your money will be worthless soon enough whatever you do! But your food's never going to suffer from inflation and be worth less calories.

ChasingButterflies

JackieO wrote: »

I have always liked to have a little of 'The sky has got to fall in before I touch it ' money.

This made me smile. I have a pot of savings for that and a pot for "don't really want to spend but if something breaks... I can fix/replace" Although these pots are in the bank/premium bonds.

We have sold our house and a looking to buy somewhere new - I feel sick at the prospect of using our "cushion" and tying it up in a new home - but there are good reasons for us doing this... (I have over-estimated all moving costs so hopefully there will be a bit left over to start again with )

My mum was always one for living week to week - it was usually the baliffs that turned up though, which I guess, is why I am the way I am

DH will openly admit to being rubbish with money too... he doesn't know how much the mortgage is either monthly or total amount outstanding :rotfl:We established early on that I was better being in charge of our finances (around the time I added up incomings/outgoings and realised we had £100 spare a month to feed and clothe 2 adults and 2 toddlers both of whom were in nappies) The prospect of going back to times like that is encouragement enough to save now, just in case.

the_cat

I wouldn't want to keep cash at home due to the security issues but I do have rainy day savings put by in the bank.

If it were hard to access these for any reason I have a credit card with a large available limit on it which I would use for any necessities and would then pay back in full at the end of the month. I can't think of a situation where a lack of hard cash would be more than an inconvenience by doing it this way

pigpen

I rarely have more than £5 in my purse.. and Id crack out the credit card.. or my debit card.. dont need to access cash so long as there isnt a blanket cancellation of cards Im good

Any

Hmm, we don't have any cash at home apart from copper and what ever we have in our valet/purse at the time (so max £50).
However I think that if something so massive such as our banking system falls down and has such an extent that the milions of cash machines will be emptied and shops will stop accepting cards (nowadays main way of money movement), there would be such a chaos and madness that having £100 in cash at home would buy you at a push slice of bread and nothing more anyway...

I would also not like being proved wrong though:-))

kippers

I think we have approx one pounds worth of 2p pieces lol. We don't have much more in the bank:rotfl:...well that's not quite true, we do have enough to pay the bills but don't have anything extra BUT we are lucky as we don't have any debts except the morgage so we are alot better off than some.

quintwins

i keep a small buffer in my bank of £200 we also have a free £200 overdraft, i don't like keeping cash about not so much cause of breakins but i worry about fires, i would like to hope it will never get to the point that we can't acess our funds, if that did happen i would imagine the goverment would step in pretty quickly

XSpender

I have no cash savings, just some bank shares that a worth less than a 10th of what they were a few years back and some shrapnel in a piggy bank. We have no debt but things breaking/needing repaired this year has shown me how important it is to get some money behind us in 2012. We do have surplus cash available to save but it just gets spent:(

My plan is to have some 'never to be touched unless it is a dire emergency' savings as well as a more accessible savings pot but both these will be in the bank. If I had cash stashed under the bed it would be too easy to dip into.