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

culpepper

We have a savings cushion because for the last two years running, OH's firm have made major people redundant and each time we worried it would be him.
I have it in my name as OH would have spent it otherwise but he knows how much is there and exactly what it is for.
We have maybe a couple of weeks of food money in the house as cash as well if we raided the coin jars.
When the kids were small it was a vicious circle of save and then mend the car or motorbike or an appliance .
These days, I hold a buffer in my housekeeping account and can use that for such times. We just spent nearly £200 on a car repair using it and that would have completely crippled us 15 years ago(we might have even needed to borrow to cover it).
Its a good thing we don't do the lottery because OH would spend it in his head 3 or 4 times over even if we never won a bean.

katieowl_2

pineapple wrote: »

I know our savings are protected up to a certain level but that will be no comfort if everything goes belly up and we are locked out of our banks/cash machines and we need money NOW. In such an extreme situation credit cards might stop operating as well.
I think if you can afford it, it's best to try to spread the risk.
I have a stash at home (check how much if any, is covered by your insurance), some bank savings and a stock of food with a long shelf life plus non food items. That includes the dog food too!
We are in uncharted territory here - including the possibility, albeit tiny, of conflict. In a civil emergency you don't want to be queuing up with half the world trying to get cash in a bank run scenario. Plus in a panic situation, shops could be bare in a matter of days.

I'm with Pinapple IF it all goes belly up your best protection will be some kind of protection agains civil unrest, and a good stash of food. There's lots of 'Be Prepared' stuff on some of the USA Mormon sites, they are advised to keep a supply of foods in the house, and also if you really want to give yourself the willies you could have a look at some of the survivalist websites. That's if things went REALLY bad of course
Things like water and fuel are top of the list, along with a first aid kit that can cope with 'bad stuff' and of course an obligatory red headband.


I gather from the news today that HSBC went down for quite a while, cash machines AND online banking, which must have been fun for some people. I think that's the sort of chaos we'd be most likely to get, where they had to take the systems down?

I've got my £1 coin jar that has quite a few in at the moment, I save Dragons and Leeks... and a big pot of loose change. But the Armageddon cupboard would keep us going for weeks...

Kate

mardatha

I agree , also there are UK sites on prepping as well. If interested PM me.

natlie

I have £200 lent out in Zopa which I could get back quite easily, I could borrow my daughters savings £1000 if I HAD to, I have about £600 worth of designer shoes I could sell we could sell one of the cars too

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

After a rather unreliable, untrustworthy [strike]and treacherous little !!!![/strike] boyfriend in my past, I hate having cash at home.

I have the first fiver I was ever paid as a musician. The sky would have to fall in and the horsemen of the apocalyse would have to be thundering up the main road before that came out of its frame.

luxor4t

I've only got the loose change tub - about £30 - immediately to hand. I suppose I could sell my few bits of 'real' jewellery ... except my wedding ring doesn't move now my fingers are swollen

My granny kept a few pounds in the Post Office, but I suppose that would also close.

taplady

we struggled to get out of a lot of debt and are now trying to get some savings behind us.
We have a safe at home, hidden away and have about £500 in there plus a tiny bit in the bank - we did have more but had to buy a new washing machine.
We do budget and stick to it but its going to take time to build some savings up.

soappie

Zilch.
Nada.

If things continue as they are I'm seriously considering taking my clothes off and taking up a position in the sex industry....

meritaten

OH and I are now in the VERY fortunate position of having a few thousand 'put by'! from not having two pennies to rub together, we can afford the mortgage, car, and utility bills, eat very well thank you (Aldi) and can help out the grown up kids! we are not 'wealthy' by any means - but compared to many we are!

and before any of you start thinking OH is in a well paid job - His wages are about a third below the national average (and I mean the average for Wales NOT England)!
We dont have expensive holidays, we dont fritter away our money on 'stuff', I dont insist on new furniture every year or even TEN years. we buy good quality items in sales and in the main they last!
this to me is being frugal. not tightfisted.......but making your every penny count.

PixieDust

I'm with Soappie....we have nothing at all. Neither have the children, neither have our families. We don't have any overdraft or credit cards, either, which is a doubleedged sword....no interest/fees/debt, but no safety net or buffer either. If everything went titsup, we would be up a certain creek.....but we do have rifles and shotguns, so we'd either have something to sell, or some power of persuasion if it was life or death....