In yesterdays post I blogged about how we’re trying to save a years worth of basic expenses. We’re doing this for a couple of reasons, one, in case the worst happens and we both lose our jobs, and two, to have as a safety net when we first move to Portugal.
I did a fairly basic budget, which still has a little wiggle room in it, to work out how much we needed to save. Obviously the mortgage payments could go back up, in which case the digital tv would be dropped and the miscellaneous fund would be severely reduced.
| Cost | Monthly | Annual | |
| Mortgage | £542.34 | £6,508.08 | |
| Council Tax | £104.94 | £1,259.30 | |
| Water | £31.67 | £380.04 | |
| Gas/Electric | £121.00 | £1,452.00 | |
| Phone | £33.33 | £400.00 | Feb,May,Aug,Nov |
| Contents | £10.05 | £120.63 | Annual June |
| Buildings | £13.99 | £167.88 | Annual April |
| TV Licence | £12.01 | £144.12 | |
| Life Ins | £21.08 | £252.96 | |
| Digital TV | £37.00 | £444.00 | |
| Sub Total: | £927.41 | £11,129.01 | |
| Food | £200.00 | £2,400.00 | |
| Transport | £100.00 | £1,200.00 | |
| Misc | £250.00 | £3,000.00 | Emergencies/Kids |
| Total: | £1,477.41 | £17,729.01 |
It’s recommended that you keep your emergency funds in an accessible account, so we keep a certain amount in our e-saver, linked to our checking for a short term emergency and the rest in cash isa’s. It’s not ideal to use an ISA, but I really hope that we won’t have to touch the funds.
I’m a late subscriber to having an emergency fund, but now, having realised the peace of mind it brings, I don’t think I would want to live any other way.
Do you have an Emergency Fund?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is so impressive. I’ve only really cottoned on to the whole emergency fund concept this year. I’m currently stashing my cash for a few projects so I’ll be starting my emergency fund late summer. Obviously if something happened I would use what I have saved already but ideally I won’t need to!
Shoestring’s last blog post..Day 71: A frilly umbrella
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I do have an emergency fund of around £8,000. I figure if there’s a “real” emergency I can take a mortgage payment holiday which helps considerably.
I keep the money in a cash ISA – as you say – not ideal, but I also keep a working cache of around £4,000 in an e-saver account. Again, in a “real” emergency I don’t think I’d be too concerned about losing a couple of years ISA allowance.
One more thing my mortgage, as well as allowing a payment holiday, allows me to get a cash back on overpayments I’ve made. I reckon I could probably survive three years or so in a “real, real, real” emergency, using overpayment cashbacks
Not saying I’d want to do that, but having that behind you does give you a nice feeling, as well as that most important of things: options.
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