Everything changes

beanielou

Let me rephrase that for you. I put my credit card limit down. This will lead to it being paid off.

itsthelittlethings

So, the day finally came that everyone was telling me would, when I needed an emergency fund and didn't have one. I was asleep last night and heard someone knocking at my door. I ignored it, thinking it was a dodgy neighbour but finally answered. It turned out I had a leak into the downstairs neighbour's flat. We turned the water in my flat off but couldn't see a leak, so called an emergency plumber who found the leak. He's come back on his day off to fix it today, which I'm very grateful for. I paid last night and can pay today but will have to borrow money to get to the end of the month. I may be able to claim back on the building insurance but I'm guessing there will be an excess. I am even more determined now to pay off my debt and build up an emergency fund so I can deal with these things like an adult. My downstairs neighbour was very helpful last night turning the water off. He actually called the plumber and offered to pay the call out fee but I paid as it was my leak!

What a saga. It's only money at least! I'd had a really nice evening and been out and met some people. Work were really good when I said I needed to go home early today. We are short but they said I could leave whenever I wanted.

You are absolutely right about emergency funds!

joedenise

I'm glad you have finally "seen the Light" about needing an Emergency Fund. You now need to start budgeting properly. Even now although I have savings I still don't have a large amount of personal money for things like magazines, coffees etc but all my pots have enough money in them to pay off whatever is needed. We have an Emergency Fund in a savings account with our main current account; some in Premium Bonds (any winnings are reinserted - would love to fill completely!) and also regular savers which are earmarked for specific things like holidays.

Smudgeismydog

I’m sorry you had to deal with the leak and pay an unexpected bill, but yes, I do hope this has helped you understand the importance of budgeting, saving and having an emergency fund.

itsthelittlethings

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980076#Comment_81980076

I mean you say you don't have a great deal of personal money but how much money would you say you spend outside of bills (including regular payments such as subscriptions) and food? Just trying to judge if I am being unreasonable.

To include clothes, entertainment, holidays, everything.

joedenise

Personal spending money is for stuff like coffees, buying fabric for dressmaking and I have just £20 a month.

Not sure what you mean by entertainment as we don't go to gigs, concerts, theatre etc as these are far too expensive and to get anywhere is also very expensive as we don't live in a town and public transport stops by 6pm so can't really even go out for a meal in the evening unless we drive so no drinking!

Clothes, holidays, bills etc are all allocated to pots each month in the budget. Holidays are paid for by using regular savers.

Once you have have all your essentials budgeted for, ie bills, food, insurances etc what is left can then be allocated to various pots for non essentials like entertainment, eating out etc.

You seem to just use all the money you get in one month for whatever you fancy without even thinking about the things you'll need to pay in the future - things like house insurance, life insurance, any subscriptions.

You really need to think about all the things you have to pay for first; then the things you need to pay for over the next few months before even thinking about the things you want. If you want something then you need to save for it over a few months before buying it rather than just buying it and then leaving yourself short at the end of the month which is how you seem to "budget".

Hope that helps in some way.