Keeping Myself On Track....

benten69

IT'S PAY DAY!!! So glad it's arrived, car needs fuel. Also topped up my emergency fund & I'm now over 3/4 of the way there!

savingwannabe

Fantabulous news.

atrixa

Well done on the emergency fund

benten69

So, it's Thursday today...well Friday for me as I am off for the easter weekend! YAY!! Been doing more surveys and made another £10 so far this week. Need to clean the chain & sprockets of my track motorbike this weekend along with fitting a new rear tyre and setting the suspension.

However it looks like I won't get out on it much this year if I am to save up for my new road bike I want. Still, I should get her out at a couple of race circuits this season.

Kittikins

Hello benten, may I ask what your emergency fund consists of? Is it something like X times your monthly bills? My partner and I are weeks away from moving in together and we're thinking we need an emergency fund, but are not sure what would be a good figure.

benten69

Hi Kittikins, my emergency fund is basically enough to tide me over for 9-12 months (depending how frugal I am) should the worst happen (lose my job) and obviously it will also cover me should unexpected expenses arise with other things also.

Honestly I am going for maybe a bit more than most, but it just gives me some security and I'll feel happy with that. I would personally aim for no less than 3 months of cash, and even after you have that set aside, keep topping it up with a few quid here & there to make it grow, but always try to keep at least 3 months of expenses (mortgage, bills, food, etc, etc) available. Obviously for me 3 months of expenses will be different than you and your partner.

Back to work today after a rather uneventful weekend. Managed to get some time to relax though. Got the chain & sprockets cleaned on the bike, inc under the front sprocket cover (nasty). Also got a new rear tyre fitted, now just need to book some time on the track.

Kittikins

That's a great challenge you've set yourself benten! KW and I are thinking of 3 months as a starting challenge, and then having other savings pots for things like replacement washing machine etc.

It's an expensive business this living lark isn't it! (Not helped by me going on holiday to Bath with my DD and feeling like I'm shelling out every five minutes )

benten69

So.....it's 1:10am and I am awake, at work, in the office doing night shift this weekend. We don't normally do it, but covering for the guys who usually do though. Not all bad as I get a full 12h overtime for working night shift as we are not contracted to do it, so they need to make doing it worth while, otherwise we'll just turn it down.

Extra pennies for my plans, so can't complain and as of right now it's been kinda quiet (touches wood). Only made £5 from surveys this week, but as it's the end of the financial year I noticed the interest for my ISA has been paid, so that's alright.

Just got to try and stay awake

savingwannabe

Did you stay awake? Well done on the overtime. I'm so envious.

pinknsparkly

Nicely done on the overtime, but I do have to ask: did you jinx yourself when you said it was quiet?? I work in a hospital and that rule is that if you are anywhere near the emergency department then UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you even think that it's a little quiet :D:D

Kittkins, to answer your question: everyone has a different "rule of thumb" when it comes to emergency savings but for my husband and I, I aim to keep enough in savings to top up the lower earners salary to enable us to cover all our bills for 12 months with a reasonable standard of living (e.g. able to go out for meals/drinks with friends, but not holidays abroad), plus a couple of thousand to cover a genuine emergency such as a boiler breakdown or major car repair. We work in very different fields, so I feel happy with the assumption that only one of us would be likely to be made redundant at a time. That said, we are currently saving to buy a house so our savings are far higher than that at the moment but will probably all be used for the house purchase. But that is the minimum that I'd want to build our savings back up to.