The £1,000 emergency fund challenge.

strandedinaber

Thank you for adding me, Pat!

A day into my challenge, I'm reminded of why an EF/buffer is a good idea. I budgeted meticulously this year, planning for birthdays and holidays (I have a caravaning holiday with friends, as well as two holidays with family - all in the UK), a wedding and associated hen night. Hen night is in April and costs roughly £100. Today I was told that they want the full amount up front when booking, aka by tomorrow! Not normally a problem, but it is post Christmas when I've bought a few other birthday presents in advance. So my EF is going down again already!

Kim_13

I'll join in. Not sure how long it'll take me to save though, as I'm prioritising high % regular savers.

I may also end up raiding the fund sooner rather than later (temperamental TV..)

YoungBusinessman

£30 added today so EF is now upto £166.22. Upping my target to £200 by payday on the 15th this month.

12_month_challenge

Hi all
My EF took a hit today as I had to pay £130 to get my car through MOT. However if I didn't have it I would have headed straight for the CCs (not on your Nelly)

I am still just above my target so I am still quite pleased. I need now to keep adding to it for my insurance.

Well done to everyone for adding to theirs. Keep going :T

rising_from_the_ashes

carbootcrazy wrote: »

That's a real blow, rising from the ashes:eek:. As you say, though, at least you had the money in your EFs:j. I get quite depressed whenever I have to dip into mine but without this challenge I would have saved nothing at all and be in a real pickle whenever emergencies have struck. So yes, it's a shame to have to start from square one again but the advantage is being able to pay for the boiler without panicking and/or going into debt;)


We'll all still be here through 2016, motivating, consoling and cheering each other on:beer:

patman99 wrote: »

Rising, think how you would have had to fund the heating repairs if you had not saved up your EF.

You're both right (of course! )

DF very kindly gave me some money towards the repairs for Christmas :T(yup, funny how you can be happy to get money for something like this for your Christmas / Birthday etc!!) and I stuck £50 from Dec wages towards it as well, so haven't had to raid the Pets EF as much as I thought (only £100 pinched from there!)

Balances now at £3.96 EF and £410.93 Pets EF so could be worse!


Not quite sure how I'm going to build it up again as wages due to drop £100 / month from 1st Feb :eek::( but hey ho .....

Have joined the 'sell £1000 in 2016' challenge' aiming for £250 ..... the first £50 is going towards a new bed for the dog (I know it's expensive but she's had to be banned from the sofa as she kept falling off in deep sleep and I was really worried she'll really hurt her back - and she isn't allowed upstairs so she needs something decent to sleep on / support her joints) - and the rest will be going towards my EF

A new mattress is getting pretty high up my 'need' list - mine is ancient and I have a really bad back. I have a mattress topper on it which has helped for the past year but it's really staving off the inevitable .....

Sorry to hear about your MIL @Patman

Welcome to newcomers and Best Wishes for 2016 to all ....

nextyeartina

Thanks for the warm welcome. I had an EF last year (sounds so long ago now, lol) but decided to pay a debt off with it after Christmas. I feel lost without it . The car's developed a problem which is being looked at hopefully tomorrow. I know it's something to do with the turbo so 'sounds' like it's going to be expensive. Fingers crossed I'm wrong. Tina x

strandedinaber

I'm going to try and be brave this month. I had an unexpected cost in that a friend's hen do needs to be paid for up front (£75), when I'd been planning to save for it over the next few months. This has left me with roughly £80 in the food/entertainment/household/petrol budget for the month, plus another £10 in my purse (mostly because I decided to pay a significant amount off of my credit card bill this month and add to my savings). Theoretically, living on the £90 should be no problem at all. I've over a month's worth of meals in the freezer and food for the next week in the house, half a tank of petrol in the car, and £25 worth of food vouchers arriving in the next few days. But it doesn't feel like "enough" (even though it clearly is and the EF is there if I need it) so it's a bit nerve-wracking! Going to get on with selling some bits and pieces for my other challenge, but put the money straight in the EF.

*snow*white*

managed to get the ef to £66.11/£1000 which is more than I thought until the end of the month.

I am focusing on each £100 milestone, feels good to be trying to save a bit again

[Deleted User]

I've a last-minute one-day leaflet delivering job to do on Friday:j. Pay will be peanuts but at least it's money in instead of money out:j

Whatever I get (paid by cheque and usually a while after the work's been done:() will all be going straight into my EF. Promises, promises;)

5erge

Blimey, £150 refund from Southern Energy. I had a little kitty that has built up due to using 37% less gas (thanks to the warmer weather) so £50 more in the EF. £900 to go

Watch what happens now, the weather will turn to %#@!!

Des