3-6 Month Emergency Fund Challenge!!

DuranGirl

Wow... feeling overwhelmed today. Some of you will know about the ongoing saga with my car - nearly a fortnight without it due to an intermittent fault. The specialist garage's verdict today was that their computers can find NO FAULT on the system! The work I've already had done was what they would have done as well, they've reprogrammed the computer (like I know what that means) and it's basically a case of driving it until the fault materialises again and getting it back to them with a 'live' fault. So my dad and I have given it a good old run today - no fault. I'm trying it again tomorrow, but my nerves have been in ribbons every time I sit behind the wheel, as I do about 350 miles a week for work, and the thought of it packing up on the motorway terrifies me.


Anyway, to cut a long story short(ish), my parents told me today that, because they're so proud of me for holding it all together since the kids' father left over three years ago and pulled the plug financially, that they want to GIVE me money for a replacement car. Not just lend until my mortgage comes through (I was going to use the extra I'd borrowed for a new bathroom to pay them back), but actually GIVE. I'm so very, very blessed, I can't quite believe it. :A:A I'm also doing a little bit of this :j because I'm hoping that I will be able to get something without touching the EF, which may be needed for legal fees relating to the financial settlement and buying my house. Need a lie down now, but I'm making do with a brew and a home-made rock cake!

stewby

Aw Durangirl!!!!! That is absolutely fantastic news!!!!
You are so so lucky that your parents are so supportive.

Because my pay has been a bit low a few times, I am not going to be able to get rid of my credit card by Xmas. I was completely gutted as I am so close... however, my lovely amazing parents are going to lend me the money so that I can finish the credit card and I can pay them back over a couple of months in 2016.
I am also very lucky to be supported by parents. I honestly have so much admiration for anyone who can make the debt-free journey without the support of other people. It must take a lot of discipline and determination to keep on the right path.


Anyways... rambled on a bit, sorry.
Hugs to everyone.

Dobbibill

Durangirl and Stewby fab news with the support you are getting from your family.

A big shout out to everyone adding funds to their EF. :T :T :T

#2 checking in for the payday update.

not many outgoings plus a bit of a bonus in my pay means I've been able to top it up and replenish the money used for the car service a few weeks ago.

an extra £507.97 taking me up to £4597.10 - hopefully it can stay there now for a while

off to update my signature

Happy Friday people

DreamerHelen

Evening All!! I went to see Lord of the Dance tonight in London...It was AWESOME (although I couldn't quite figure out the entire Story!!), the Dancing was just phenomenal!! It would have been better with Michael Flatley but the Guy who was the Lead Dancer was pretty good and had the rogueish arrogance down-pat...


Keeping Motivated .... I'm glad to see your Signature Just go for it and start when you can hun....


rylee12 .... Welcome to you, of course you are more than welcome to Join!! I have put your name on the First Post.....along with a Number....Do you have a Target in mind?


Carbootcrazy .... LoL....Is the cat planning to blow up anytime soon? Keep going hun, you WILL get there...xXx


DuranGirl ... That's AWESOME news....you sound like you have wonderful Parents.....Congratulations!!


stewby ..... I'm lucky with my Mum in particular...she's awesome and amazing.....I'm very blessed.....And please feel free to ramble as much as you like


Dobbibill ....I have Updated the First Post....Wow and Wow and Wow is all I can say...you are doing AMAZING!!!


Keep it up everyone....We can ALL do this at our own pace and in our own time...the point is not the destination but the Journey and knowing that we are saving all we can xXx

black_cat

We're having work done on our roof today - replacing lost slates (in recent storm), replacing ridge tiles, fixing a few loose slates, straightening TV aerial, a bit of mortar needs replacing...

We feel good because we can afford to get it done and we won't have to worry about the roof for a few years (hopefully), but it's delayed the "permanent" emergency fund.

How are folks sorting out their savings? Do you have one fund for emergencies eg £1000 to cover house repairs, car problems, new washing machine machine etc? And another for long-term security eg 3-6 months salary in case of illness or redundancy. I think we're trying to have both, plus a fund for work we need doing on the house (roof, external painting, replace a couple of window panes etc).

I'm also thinking about my other savings "pots" for Christmas, holidays etc. Should I keep everything in an ISA to get better interest (and separate it out on my spreadsheet) or should I keep my separate savings accounts? I'm getting confused!

Any advice appreciated!

stewby

Hey BlackCat.

My OH and I have a savings pot in the house for Xmas. We each put in £1 a day (total for next year will be £730). This pays for all our pressies, subsidises our presents to each other and allows us to have a meal out in December.
This year it is TGI Fridays.


The reason why we have it in the house is so that we can easily access it when we buy presents. I buy presents throughout the year, especially when I see something amazing.
I have a horrible habit of seeing something perfect but not buying it as I will "get it next time" then finding that it isn't available any more.


I am not doing seperate emergency funds. To be honest, I feel quite nauseous about having £6000 just sitting around (once I have completed my emergency fund obviously) so the idea of having even more sitting makes me a bit bleurgh.
I am incredibly hopeful and positive that when the s*** hits the fan, I will not have destroyed the house/car (or cat) as well as having lost both our jobs.
If that happens, I am going to sell the house and spend the rest of my life travelling the world in our campervan.


Hugs to everyone.


edit: we used to have a holiday pot too but booked New York so we are now saving for that instead. It used to be £100 each a month. We are aiming to save £125 a month for New York.
Once New York is sorted, the £125 a month is going to be our Wedding Fund.

[Deleted User]

black_cat wrote: »

How are folks sorting out their savings? Do you have one fund for emergencies eg £1000 to cover house repairs, car problems, new washing machine machine etc? And another for long-term security eg 3-6 months salary in case of illness or redundancy. I think we're trying to have both, plus a fund for work we need doing on the house (roof, external painting, replace a couple of window panes etc).

I'm also thinking about my other savings "pots" for Christmas, holidays etc. Should I keep everything in an ISA to get better interest (and separate it out on my spreadsheet) or should I keep my separate savings accounts? I'm getting confused!

Any advice appreciated!

I hope the roof work goes OK, black cat:beer:. It's blowing a gale here so I doubt any roofers would dare to venture that high:eek:


As for your confusion about savings pots I suspect you aren't alone. I'm totally confused myself:o


I've got a £1000 EF partly filled (patman's challenge:j) but the total has fluctuated massively throughout the year to pay for various emergencies. That's what it's there for after all so I shouldn't grumble. I'm just fed up of just getting one thing sorted only for something else to conk out:mad:. This money is in my instant access online savings account and is to cover car repairs, vet fees, and anything that breaks and needs repairing or replacing. Plus anything else unexpected that crops up;)


I'm also desperate to save £3000+ for replacing my old car (the reason for so many 'emergencies' this year:eek:) when it finally gives up the ghost. That's what I'm using the 3-6 months EF for:j. On a DMP I have no access to any credit so it must be cash or nothing for the car. Living very rurally I just couldn't survive without a vehicle of my own:o

I was thinking of keeping savings for this entirely separate and maybe in an instant access ISA or something where I could get at it to eke out the other EF if a mega disaster strikes:eek: but would be otherwise sacrosanct. Still thinking about that one.


I've also joined the Sealed Pot Challenge and plan to save loose change and coins of 20p and under. This challenge runs November to November and I think a lot of people use the savings for Christmas. We don't 'do' much at Christmas, spending on it is minimal, so I'll have to decide what I'll be doing with mine. I won't be making much just from small value coins but every little helps, as they say;). I also sell stuff at car boot sales (though have run out of anything likely to make me anything much at all and have dropped a lot of what I had left at the end of this season at some charity shops). I plan to save any notes , £1 and 50p coins towards my EFs and the small coins in my sealed pot during next year's car boot season.


I think the simple answer is that it's best to go with what works for you. If you try to follow someone else's way and it turns out to be complicated you might have less incentive to try hard to save.

Good Luck:beer:. Please let us know of any good ideas that you have.

Dobbibill

black_cat wrote: »

We feel good because we can afford to get it done and we won't have to worry about the roof for a few years (hopefully), but it's delayed the "permanent" emergency fund.

Having the fund there for this is fab, even if it delays things on the EF. :T

How are folks sorting out their savings? Do you have one fund for emergencies eg £1000 to cover house repairs, car problems, new washing machine machine etc? And another for long-term security eg 3-6 months salary in case of illness or redundancy. I think we're trying to have both, plus a fund for work we need doing on the house (roof, external painting, replace a couple of window panes etc).

I'm also thinking about my other savings "pots" for Christmas, holidays etc. Should I keep everything in an ISA to get better interest (and separate it out on my spreadsheet) or should I keep my separate savings accounts? I'm getting confused!

Any advice appreciated!

As previously said blackcat, you have to find what works for you. I do all mine on or around payday for most things. I have them all set up in separate accounts, that way it doesn't look too much to tempt me to dip into it because it spread around.

* Xmas savings - paid in by SO to a monthly saver [4%]
* Car Ins and Tax - paid in by SO to an instant access saver [0.5%]
* House savings - paid in by SO to an instant access saver [0.5%]
also topped up from shopping account if we come in under budget for the month.
* £1000 EF - paid in by SO to an ISA [0.8%]
* 3-6mnth/car EF - transferred into a current acc [5%] after all outgoings calculated from my pay, after spending money too.

I have a few other acc's for birthdays, treats, bills, vets, shopping and spending too. I find it works better for me as each acc has a purpose and I refuse to take it from one acc for another purpose.

Now that it's written down it actually looks a lot more complicated than it is, probably because there was just the initial setting up of them and then it takes care of itself, and they weren't all set up at the same time so it didn't seem such a task.

There's no right or wrong answer, just what you find works for you and your family.

Dobbi

Rosylee

Hello, only just found this thread. Please may I join. I need £8850 for 3 months savings. So far, I have £27.92. Not very much, but I am also saving for my buffer (if you are familiar with YNAB, you know what I mean)

black_cat

Thanks Stewby, Carbootcrazy and Dobbi!

I think the reason why I'm so undecided is because of the different rates of interest our savings account have - 1 ISA, and 5 (or more) savings accounts. Even though the interest rates aren't so good, I think I'll stick with the separate accounts for things but put the long-term emergency fund in an ISA and OH can open another ISA for the house move/repair fund - as they'll have the largest sums of money in them (eventually). I like seeing the different amounts add up.

Carbootcrazy - the roofing guy turned up this morning but we expected him to cancel. There's no wind here but there was still snow on the ground when he arrived. I told him to take care but he seemed happy! It definitely makes sense to save ahead of time for a car. We're not expecting to need a replacement for quite a few years but you never know...

Stewby - we half-heartedly save £2 coins. I think if we did that conscientiously we'd have quite a stash by next Christmas!

Dobbi - your system makes sense. I admire your self-discipline in not taking from one to pay for something else!