How much do you have in your emergency pot?

About a grand. We have no credit cards so I could prob get one if we needed something in an emergency

I have just over £8k in savings at the moment. £6k of that is in a ‘don’t touch unless disaster happens’ account and the rest is in a couple of accounts being saved for a big trip next year. I’m not 100% sure on the trip going ahead yet but that’s the aim. I can access another nearly £2k on credit cards so I guess in theory in an emergency I could get just over £10k.

I’ve had a couple of things recently costing £1k ish each so the amount would’ve been higher but I’m lucky enough to be able to add to it each month which is not a position I have always been in at all.

I’m my immediate emergency fund I have 1510. Car fund has 1680 but I will pay my car insurance next month of 570 so that will go down. We put 150 per month into it for tax and insurance for two cars. We have another car maintenance fund that we put 100 per month in, that is at 2020 but my dh needs to get new tyres soon so that will be about 4/500.
we have other long term savings and save the child benefit for the dc. Everything is accounted for. I’ve just received nearly 60k, I will put that into long term saving.

I have £650 in savings.

I’ve got a healthy amount now but it’s been a struggle to get to this point, 18 years ago I had nothing.
It is possible to turn things around but in my experience it’s something that takes time and when you’re in the thick of it you think it’s never going to change.
I made a lot of small changes hoping that they would add up, which they did, but the biggest difference was taking on a part-time second job and stashing that income away and never touching it. I realise this isn’t always possible or convenient but it was worth it for my peace of mind, I grew up with parents who never quite had enough money and that feeling of financial insecurity never leaves you.
I would rather go without things that perhaps other people see as normal expenditure, I read on here once that when you’ve spent a pound you can never get that pound back, so I’m the type of person who will park half a mile away on a side street to avoid paying a car park fee.

Did have 18k but that's going to be 7k very soon due to expensive house repairs. Only had that in the first place because of an inheritance. I have credit card for an emergency and I have income protection insurance. Got an expensive fee months coming up so will put that on 0per cent card and pay back over the next year.

I earn quite well (in my mind...to some on Mumsnet I'm in pauper territory🤣) but husband is on a low income. Middle aged and would be more secure by now if I hadn't left an abusive relationship.

This is a fascinating insight into the cost of private education in Australia. Presumably why a lot more people go for it there than in the uk.

Nothing and maxed out credit cards

I'm a 39yo divorced mum of one, we do 50/50 so no money from ex-husband. I try to save/invest £800 a month, accessible today for emergencies, I've got about £10k, £40k more in a week or so if I pull from investments. I earn £36k with 30h/w, child benefit and small side hustle makes my take home £2.4k.

But here's the big difference: I'm still renting at nearly 40 because I live abroad where you need 20-30% deposit plus another 15% for legal fees and taxes. Unlikely I'll get a mortgage unless my income increases significantly in the next couple of years. So I save/ invest a bigger % of income for retirement because I'll likely be paying rent until I die.

Lived with new partner for 2 years, flat is small 2 bed, all rent, utility bills and insurances comes to £1000 between us (he doesn't have savings and is 50 so not mortgage candidate either). We don't have (or need) a car, no debts and work from home which makes saving easier.

So I don't have the worry of a boiler breaking down as the landlord would have to pay it but I don't feel settled and secure as a renter, have no free choice to decorate how I like, make improvements etc.

(And that was over around 2 years!)

It’s varied at different stages of life. Whilst I have always been a saver, savings were low or virtually non existent when I was younger and in the early child rearing days. As DC got older, I worked more hours, got promotions etc and savings became higher. Ditto when the mortgage was paid off and retirement started to appear on the horizon rather than it being something that happened to old people.

When we only had one income and it was around £21,000 before tax we saved £13,000. No kids or pets though.

@Illbefinejustbloodyfine going through a divorce too, it’s grim isn’t it.

Ive got about £6,000 but some of that is ear marked for an overseas trip with one DD to see the other DD who is on her uni year abroad.

Bought our place 7 years ago and am attempting to buy H out so I’ll be skint forever!

Every time we get up to around a 1000, one of three things is guaranteed to happen. A surprise bill, something big breaks or the cat gets sick.

That's life.

£78k (most of which was a family gift) but most of that is ear marked for a house deposit and fees next year. I want to keep £5k back. The thought of taking on a mortgage alone is scary as well as depleting almost all of my savings, but it’s better than being in grim houseshares.

I have about 2k euros, plus about 1k in investments. Nowhere near enough if we need to do house repairs as we live in an old wooden house and the repairs we'll eventually need to do (will need a new roof within the next ten years I think, will need repainting at some point, and if we ever want to sell we'd have to renovate the entire heating system and the shower room) so I need to try and save more but its hard.

Until the 20th we have £95 in our savings. On the 20th we’ll have 3k we’ll put into our savings. We have 2 credit cards we have for emergencies which we ensure we pay off in full each month.

Anywhere between 3-6 months salary. I also put EVERYTHING on my credit card nd pay it off on time and in full, so I have a good line of credit available if I need it.

Mid income family, both work full time , 3 children with one still in nursery. Thank God for my employer’s Sharesave scheme, took 150 a month from my salary after tax and after 3 years, I was able to buy the company’s shares at a discounted price and sell immediately. Now we have just over 17k in savings thanks to that scheme. I’m still continuing with that scheme as having it deducted before getting paid has made it possible to save.
Otherwise, most of all our salary gets spent and we just started having £200 a month to save when the 30 hrs free childcare kicked in last month though most of the ones saved now will be spent on Christmas etc. It’s just a cycle

Earmarked as an 'emergency fund' - £625.
Started as £500 but we keep it in Premium Bonds and we've won £100 and £25. Not really going to cover much but may get us out of a pickle if we need a new appliance or something.
DP and I share it but keep separate finances. We're fairly low earners, 34 and 36, 2Dc and a mortgage.

I’m the same, my career has suffered due to working part time thanks to childcare.

On our income you would think we would be okay but nope! We have nothing left for anything nice, just endless bills and repairs.

Feel for you though!

I’m now 60 and the mortgage has gone. I have access to about £8k for emergencies. Other savings are locked up.

In our 40s we had very little in savings. Just enough to cover repairs.

We have 2k designated (slightly over that but we won’t allow it to drop below - we need another long term non emergency por really!) a credit card and the security that parents would never let anything truly terrible happen to us which we’ve never called on but I’ve realised how lve felt very secure with that in the background.

it worries me a bit because it wouldn’t keep us going very long at all. But our jobs are pretty secure with decent notice periods or redundancy package so…

£0 and a couple of credit cards

i was doing ok until ex husband stopped paying maintenance for 3 children at £350 per month - childminder put rates up 20% so any savings have been obliterated
i got notice of an £80 per month pay rise this week (I earn £75k) so well below cost of living rises - I may try and save some of that but realistically that will just cover 2026 rises in council tax / gas / water and so on

£250 in savings for Xmas but owe £1200 on credit card!