Debt free and staying that way while I re-evaluate life and keep blood sugar levels down

Humdinger1

I've been thinking about what my emergency fund goal is @Watty1...I'm not sure to be honest.  I think I'd like to have a big cushion in the business account and then combined I'd feel... prepared.  All a bit vague I know.  Thanks for setting the rabbit running love Humdinger xx 

savingholmes

Good luck with your planning.

foxgloves

Morning @Humdinger1, I meant to comment on your Emergency Fund thoughts & forgot to get round to it.
I think everyone will be coming at this from their own circumstances. At the outset of my conversion to budgeting, it would have felt amazing to have £500 or £1000 in an Emergency Fund as we never saved anything previously, but as I thought more about defining the various emergencies which might befall us, it became clear that a large number of these were of a perfectly foreseeable nature.....a nasty car bill, white goods unhelpfully carking it, etc, which is when we addressed having funds ready for this kind of thing to our Savings Pots. 
That has left our Emergency Fund for the real 'brown stuff hitting the fan' type of scenario & thankfully we haven't had to call on it yet. The lifelong overthinker in me thinks we can't really ever have enough in the Emergency Fund, but the rational part says that if we keep adding to that, we won't be able to build sufficient in our Savings Pots, which will make it MORE likely that we will at some point need to dip into our Emergency Fund to pay for one of those aforementioned foreseeable expenses. So we have closed our Emergency Fund at 6 x our monthly income, based on the recommendation for aged 50+ workers. We have not upped it annually to take small pay-rises into account on the grounds that Mr F would receive redundancy pay which would extend emergency funds if the worst happened job-wise.
As someone who never had any savings (spent far too many years frittering money away), I now dread the thought of having to dip into our Emergency Fund, so the Savings Pots, particularly those for Car Maintenance, Appliance Replacement, Tech Replacement & Meow Fund are very much our first line of defence. 
I expect there are many different thoughts amongst folk on here on the subject of emergency funds. Did you come to any conclusions @Humdinger1?
Hope things are going positively with your daughter.
F x

Baileys_Babe

My thinking on the emergency fund is much the same as foxgloves. Savings pots for foreseeable problems such as washing machine breaking down at the same time as the fridge freezer giving up. Our emergency fund is pitiful currently and is an area we desperately need to focus on.

If I was coming to savings for the first time I could see starting with an initial fund of £100, building it up as funds allow. I would use this to stop me using my overdraft or credit card when things crop up. I would aslo add savings pots for annual bills, car costs, presents, holidays... As well as building the emergency fund for true emergencies such as loss of income or bereavement.

foxgloves

@Baileys_Babe - Yes, they can take a while to build up & I think that is why we are so gutted when we do have to use them. It's a blessed relief that the money is there, but we also know that if we do have to use a chunk of it for whatever the emergency, rebuilding our EF to its previous level will take time 
When Mr F & I first started building an emergency fund, I remember us talking about £500 being a sum which would cover quite a lot of domestic emergencies, but would not be resistant to sod's law ensuring something like a freezer breakdown being swiftly followed by dying washing machine & an unexpected plumbing issue. Of course we can't 2nd guess timings of these things so can only endeavour to be as prepared as possible within the financial constraints of our own individual household budgets. 
F

satchmo1

About 15 years ago I was in Marketing in the UK offices of a German car company and began to feel uneasy. I had a serious chat with my DH and we agreed to stop every penny of unnecessary spending. Three months later the whole division was made redundant.  Fortunately for me, I was only out of work for a month, but from then on we made sure to always have that level of Emergency Fund. DH had always previously been a spendthrift.

Humdinger1

I can see the point of different funds for different things but I like the feeling of a plumptiously fluffy emergency fund for everything.   Maybe it reflects some of the truly horrific financial situations I've been in but I like to see it sitting there, earning interest.   I do move funds in and out fairly easily though I get worried if it gets too close to 5k, which is 6+ months of essential spends.  If I ever feel happy splitting it out, I'll consider myself rehabilitated though never returning to the heights of stupidity aka magical thinking that ambushed me previously.   Thanks @foxgloves for encouraging me to consider what the h*ll and why; and to everyone reading and commenting love Humdinger xx

Baileys_Babe

My various savings pots and emergency funds are all earning interest. I keep the figures separated on a spreadsheet but the money is put in various accounts that best suit my needs for access, instant access, easy access, notice accounts, limited access. 

Watty1

Love the EF comments thank you all. I've decided that I have a bills account into which I pay an amount each month. The excess is then moved into a linked savings account. This will, over time, accumulate enough for the white goods / car type of bill.  (so far it is at £112 and I won't focus on it it will just grow as it can)

Then, as I am self employed and possibly unemployable, I have decided on an EF that should cover one years of expenditure for me and the menagerie. This is the focus of my saving for this year.

savingholmes

Good luck with the EF building.