The £1,000 emergency fund challenge.

Dobbibill

Nadolig Llawen Patman......and :xmassign: to everyone too

luvabargain

Hi all, please can I join?
I managed to save £250 over the last few months but then had to pay £400 to have the roof repaired. I am currently £150 in debt.
So, I need to clear this and then get to the £1000 mark as a starter. I aim to do this through cutting down on food spends !!! And putting any savings from each 'pot' I have into the savings pot, oh and only buying things I NEED! Hoping this thread will keep me motivated.
Going to try the till tidy as well :-)
Thank you

mossy

Happy Christmas to everyone! :xmastree:

I've done some calculations and am currently going to be able to save around £450 before I leave work in July to study the last year of my teaching degree as a full time student!

With that in mind I've decided to change my EF goal from £1k to £500. That way it will hopefully push me to reach £500; which will be a welcome safety net.

Hope you all have a fun, peaceful and happy 2017 and that you don't need to dip in to your EF savings too much. :A

patman99

Welcome to luvabargain who is our 217th member.

Been doing some shuffling today. EF is now over £400 & 3 - 6 month salary fund is on it's way to £100.

I took the plunge and reviewed my banking. I realised that the only savings account that I had (other than the TSB one) that paid interest was not paying much of a rate. I have now opened a saver account at Metro Bank.

I will be leaving £1 in my Barclays Account just to get my free Kaspersky internet.

luvabargain

Member no. 217 -£150/ £1000 now -£30/ £1000

Just sorted January's (paid in December) wages and transferred £50 as a starter to savings pot, have budgeted this monthly from now on. Got £50 Xmas money from in-laws, don't need anything so in that goes and swopped a £20 gift voucher for cash with my daughter who will be shopping at the place anyway. Got my debt down to £30 so feeling really chuffed. Aiming to clear that by cutting back on food in January so will be able to actually start saving towards the £1000 in February.

Patman - thank you for the add :-) can I ask do you count your emergency fund as different to the 3-6 month salary fund? I noticed that you are adding savings to both, thinking of doing this challenge first then putting the £1000 into the 3-6 month pot or should I have two pots? Think this saving challenge could become a little addictive!

[Deleted User]

luvabargain wrote: »

Patman - thank you for the add :-) can I ask do you count your emergency fund as different to the 3-6 month salary fund? I noticed that you are adding savings to both, thinking of doing this challenge first then putting the £1000 into the 3-6 month pot or should I have two pots? Think this saving challenge could become a little addictive!

Welcome to the challenge, luvabargain:beer:. You're right, the saving challenge does become addictive:rotfl:. I really begrudge having to break into my savings even for a real emergency. They're there for emergencies after all but now I've managed to get a safety cushion I'm not very happy when I have to use it:o


I can't speak for how patman juggles his emergency accounts but I try to keep my £1000 one fully topped up as a priority. I've also started a separate 3-6 months one and anything over and above the £1000 goes into that one. It's meant to be sacrosanct so I only direct any money that way if I know I can really hang on to it come what may. It's my 'new' car fund (to replace my current 14 year old one eventually) rather than a 3-6 month emergency pot as I'm on 2 pensions so my incomings will be the same whatever happens. Not much money coming in but reassuring all the same.

Just do what's right for you. There are no hard and fast 'rules' as such. Good Luck:beer:

luvabargain

Quote carbootcrazy:I try to keep my £1000 one fully topped up as a priority. I've also started a separate 3-6 months one and anything over and above the £1000 goes into that one.


Thanks Carbootcrazy for the welcome, that sounds like a good plan, once I hit the £1000 challenge I'll put a lid on it and start the 3-6 month one :j That feels pretty daunting at the moment though, not that I earn loads, just not been used to saving, buying wants rather than needs! Time to start cutting back as I would like to go part time in ten years when I'm 55' no chance of retiring!

Lauralozzle

#203

So, it's slowly getting there!

Emergency fund now stands at £550/£1000

patman99

Luvabargain, I treat them as a separate entity. since 2010 all my jobs have been temporary ones, so I would like to make sure that I have enough money to cover 3 months worth of earnings to be touched only when I have no job.

The EF is for day-to-day emergencies.

Dobbibill, I will assume that you were wishing me merry christmas in Welsh. I'm not Welsh, my avatar is that of the original Anglo-Saxon flag of England.
It's replacement with the cross of St. George is what the tale of George and the dragon is all about.

At least I now have my 3-6 month fund in Metro Bank where it is at last earning interest. Just got to move £53 across from Barclays to leave £1 in for when I need to renew my free Kaspersky.

Dobbibill

You assume correctly Patman .......apologies though, as I too assumed your Dragon Avatar (I love it btw) was a link to the Welsh Dragon but my assumptions were totally incorrect.

The 'Merry Christmas' message still stands though I hope you and Mrs P had a lovely time.