DS was born in the hight of the first lockdown exactly when DHs self employed job went up the scuppers as many people's did. I was already the breadwinner but we barely survived on my maternity pay and had to use all of our savings to make it through. Despite having planned to take a full year off, we had to make the difficult decision for me to return to work 3 months early which I was very upset about at the time (I know I was still very lucky to be able to take that long and of course extremely lucky to have a secure job to return to).
I managed to negotiate with work and nursery to return part time using annual leave for 5 months so still on full time pay but paying part time childcare and DHs work picked up enough that I didn't need to supplement his half of the bills at least anymore, so I was able to save some and I was determined to get our savings back up and in a better position then they had been. If we'd had a better emergency fund in place I wouldn't have had to sacrifice that extra time with my baby which I really do regret having to have done. We were fortunate not to have needed to acquire any debt but all of our savings were gone and I returned to work with nothing in the bank.
I'm not a natural saver but I did it! This month I reached my target of a fully stocked 3 months of expenses emergency fund just in time for childcare to go up to full time.
I'm determined to keep my momentum up even though I can now save a lot less a month and my new goal is to top the emergency fund up to 5 months of expenses before May when we plan to start TTC for DC2 after DS's second birthday. My hope is to have a fully stocked 6 months worth of expenses emergency fund before DC2 arrives but right now I'm just focusing on what I know is in front of me by a set date and broken down what I think is a reasonable goal month by month also considering things I know are likely to slow me down a bit. DH is saving as well but he's working on his own emergency buffer for his business account as again; had we had that, we would have been in a better position when Covid struck!
Anyway! I was wondering what other people are saving for and how far off you think you are from your goals and if you follow a set savings plan to achieve it? Once my emergency fund is fully funded I want to start saving for a new kitchen but with the hope of expanding our family I think that's a lot of years off yet so at the moment I'm happy to focus on just feeling more secure by having that emergency fund there next year! But I'm so proud of myself for actually building a plan and sticking to it and reaching that goal that I really don't want to get complacent now so please inspire me with your goals and plans!
Thank you