The £1,000 emergency fund challenge.

CountingPennies

Great news Pat!

CP xx

rising_from_the_ashes

patman99 wrote: »

Had a start-date for the new job through today. well pleased.

Fantastic news Pat! :T

Bobarella

£480 this month. I would have been higher but our national trust membership comes out this month, I see it as an essential so just need to make sure we have lots of days out this year to make the most of it.

Meatloaf1981

Sign me up please!

so_very_confused

Great news on the job Patman really pleased for you:j

January2015

My emergency fund is going to take a hit this week DH's car is in for repairs (it won't work without them so no choice but to have the work done).

Also, just realised if I don't pay Very (catalogue debt ) before the end of the month they will whack huge interest onto the debt. Although I have managed to make some good eBay sales this week (£200 ish) I need to fork out approx £350 for the car and £375 for Very.

I'll leave my signature as it is for today (because £350/£1000 looks much nicer than £0/£1000). I will update it once I know the impact of these 'emergencies'

I am just so glad I joined and had built up some emergency funds

rising_from_the_ashes

Hope noone minds if i ask a really cheeky question:o

Not at all intending it in the horrible way it may come across - just really curious to know the answer

Ive seen loads of people use their EF to pay for car repairs / mots etc - fantastic that its there for this :Tbut do you not budget for car costs generally?

Maybe its because ive been around here a few years and had big debts to pay when i started & had the importance of putting money aside for budgeting for annual bills / car maintenance etc drummed into me by others so i could clear the debts?

I do similar to Buffy and have several budgeting pots that I pay each month eg house (insurance, my annual landline payment etc), car (tax, servicing & maintenance etc), others (dentist, opticians etc), pets (everyday stuff)

Sorry as i know that will seem really checky i am just generally curious to learn how others manage their budgets - as i'm always aware im not the best at it! If theres a better way' id like to know what it is!:)

[Deleted User]

Interesting question, rising from the ashes, and not at all cheeky:)

I see you are now debt-free (well done:T) so your experience of saving/budgeting is possibly different to many of us on here who are still coping with very serious debt. In my case I am on a DMP with pretty much every penny spoken for. It's not unusual to still have some month left at the end of the money:o. I have absolutely no savings (had to be used up just on 'living' before my DMP:o) and patman's EF challenge was the light at the end of the tunnel for me:j

I know the DMP budget set-up takes account of small amounts towards various regular expenses (car, medical etc) but in reality the smallest increase in payment to one or other category (maybe having to replace something essential that has given up the ghost such as a kettle and frying pan recently, needing a lot of extra petrol one month because of hospital visits etc) can literally tip me over the financial edge. With no credit cards or overdraft, what I have is what I can spend. And car problems seem to be the biggest bugbear for most of us as when they hit they are usually eye-wateringly expensive:mad:.

I agree, it would be wonderful to have enough to maintain separate 'pots' for emergencies etc, but when the overall surplus each month is miniscule we are only talking about a couple of pounds per emergency pot:eek:. Much easier in my opinion to bung anything I can make/save each month into one EF and just pray no major emergencies crop up where it needs to be spent. In my case, the only way I can save anything towards emergencies is by selling stuff, making extra savings where spending has already been trimmed to the bone and by occasional casual work. I intend to pay off my debts asap and that's why I set my DMP repayment so high, leaving me with no fall-back cushion for emergencies.

I'm sure what you are doing is the best way (individual pots etc) and when I'm debt-free I'd like to get that system up and running for myself. In the meantime I scrimp and save every penny I have left over each month and save that in one EFwhich is reassuringly there for whatever life throws at me. It is very tempting to someone like me who is in crippling debt (who is paying it off by whatever means possible as quickly as possible) who just might manage to have £10 left over one month (after economising on every ingredient for every meal for the past month) to 'treat' ourselves to one 'good' meal, either by buying one nice joint of meat or having the bargain meal at a Pizza restaurant a couple of times a year. We are existing, not living, and the prospect of this state of affairs continuing for over 4 more years is a daunting one (my own fault I know:o). I cater for emergencies in whatever way I can.

Other people's experiences may well be different, we all get by in whatever way we can, so I'll be very interested to read how others cope. Thanks very much for asking the question, it's given me plenty to think about:T. Sorry if my reply turned out a bit 'ranty', it isn't meant to be.

so_very_confused

Carbootcrazy your post resonates with me. I am also creating one large pot. It gives me more flexibility. I'm sure my clothing allowance part paid for my exhaust a month or so ago, having already exhausted the budget on the rust bucket!
I plan much like yourself save as much as possible as a buffer for any emergency.:)

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks both for the insight

Although DF now it took many years to get here

It was only when i started my pots that i really got anywhere - i was really obsessive about them at first and had a separate pot for every little thing (so instead of 1 car one, there were 4!) but then it got silly as i think i got to 19 with piddly little amounts in & needed more :eek: - finally down to 3 but the pets have 3 too!

Similar scenario just a different way of doing it i think

Where i fall down is i don't (or didnt before i started this challenge ) have a budget anywhere to cover things being replaced / breaking down - so anything big would have to go on my cc which id then struggle to pay off (budget still doesnt have a lot of wriggle room:o)