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

System

I did manage to save £10,000 a few years back. I did a bit of part time work and earned quite a bit online. Then my old toilet broke so the old bathroom suite had to be changed as the old one was out of the ark. Then it needed decorating and there was no way i was going to have it decorated to have to mess the tiles up again to fit central heating so i had the whole lot done at once.

Hubby got in a bit of a mess with a loan which meant the money i had left got spent on things we needed/christmas/whatever.

What money i am still making online is still being spent on things we need. Its hard enough keeping out of my overdraft now let alone having money behind me just in case.

SpikyHedgehog

When I started work at 18, I wasn't given the info about local govt pension, so started a private pension - all well & good, but since I went on maternity leave at 25, I've not had to money to put into it again - I'm now in my early 40's and that does worry me. Husband has a pension through work, but since he left us earlier this year, it isn't likely to benefit me.

I have so much I want to do with my money - have plenty of food & warm clothes for me & boys, make the house ready for winter & do diy as is needed (bath panel is current project), pay off the credit card (I've been naughty with that, using it to get the coats & other clothes that the growing boys needed), start driving lessons, get a car so we can put in for a transfer to somewhere we'd rather live, save for emergencies, start putting money back in my pension...

At the moment, getting maintenance from Errant Husband weekly & WFTC weekly, my bank account looks healthy, but I really need to start looking at where the money's going & where I can make savings, & start putting money where it's needed.

YORKSHIRELASS

We are trying to clear debts so it doesnt make sense to have savings. We put a bit aside every month for car MOT, heating oil and Christmas and if it came to it we would have to use that money for an emergency.

I dream of the day when we can have a cushion of savings to fall back on ..

hummingbird

dandy-candy wrote: »

About a year ago I did worry about the banks collapsing and cash points shutting down, and kept £1k in cas at home. Since then I constantly dipped into it for odds and ends and have blown the lot, so don't keep cash at home now!
Tbh if we did get a collapse like that in Argentina a few years ago or Germany after WW1, the prices would sky rocket so unless you had huge amounts of cash I would say storing food would be better. Also if supply lines of food have problems then no amount of cash will help you out!

This is true, if there was a total meltdown - I've just recently read "The Siege" by Helen Dunmore, about the Siege of Leningrad in WW2 - people were selling all their valuable jewellery etc just to get some bread or sugar. Food becomes much more valuable than money in extreme situations.

katieclampet

I keep £200 in an envelope, under my mattress!! really!!!!!:)


Its my "just in case" cash.

katie