How much do you have for a "rainy day"?

[ChochoCrazyCat]

Just curious...how much do you keep for emergencies and how much would be your ideal amount?
I'm trying to work what a sensible amount would be so that there's a cushion, but also not having lots of money in a bank depreciating...as interest rates are so low.

We have about a year’s worth of our normal spending saved that we have immediate access to, so could stretch that to 18-24 months with some cutbacks.

We then also have the equivalent of our remaining mortgage invested for a rainy day.

We have enough saved to cover us for about 6 months, or about 9 is we were really careful.

We add to it and dip into it as and when so the amount isn't always the same.

Immediate emergency access to 50k.

If you have any savings at all you’re doing well. Many, many people don’t and just have debt.

We have savings of £11k but I’m under no illusion that they could get eaten up in a second. We’re a low income family managing on disability benefits and those savings are actually the last part of my Mums inheritance. We do try to save but our outgoings are already cut back as much as we can and we just don’t have the spare money to save.

We have about 12 months salary for one of us, but we have no mortgage so could stretch that out by being frugal for perhaps 24, however I do understand that is unusual. I would be happy with about 6 months salary. Having been in a situation of no wages for 6 months due to illness I realised how tenuous one's salary can be.

I’ve got enough to cover 6 months’ expenses as an emergency fund. I’ve got it in Premium bonds since rates are so shit at the moment so I might as well have a bit of fun with it. Would mean a bit of belt tightening but would mean bills are paid and food is on the table - I also have a well stocked pantry to help things stretch as well.

Combined we have about 2k never made it past 2.5 before needing to use it for something 🙃

We have enough to cover about 2 months bills. More would be sensible but we are on a sole income with 4 children so actually it's pretty good. We also save £100 a month to pay for Christmas and £100 as an everyday rainy day fund for things like fixing the car, new appliances etc.

10k in premium bonds for rainy day .

No mortgage or debts and cars owned outright .

Al other savings are in stocks and shares isa or regular saving as accounts that we could access but would try really hard not to .

Not the vast sums mentioned in some posts but enough to replace my car and keep me comfortable for several months if my self employed income dried up, which isn't likely to happen.

I know what it's like to have nothing in reserve though, and that was when I worked full time.

Not a penny.

Wow, some really high amounts here, I'm impressed!
We currently have £15K but want to do house renovations. Thinking of setting aside 6K that we don't touch, which would cover 4 months basic bills.
We aren't highly paid and now have childcare fees and a higher mortgage so won't be able to save like this again for a very long time, if ever.

About 8k in emergency fund, but got another 65k which is earmarked for a potential house move which won't be happening for several years. Almost all this money was part of an inheritance from my late DF.

@ChochoCrazyCat that’s the reason why I’ve got such a healthy emergency fund tbh - DP and I don’t have children yet so I’m using the opportunity to get in excellent financial shape as I know I’m not going to have as much spare cash once there’s childcare and all the other costs that come with children.

Zero. We live hand to mouth.

£120 in long term and £180 in everyday savings.... I hope that makes some people feel better. I feel quite down/panicky when I read about others savings on here.

@CheeseToastieLove

£120 in long term and £180 in everyday savings.... I hope that makes some people feel better. I feel quite down/panicky when I read about others savings on here.

Don't feel down. This is MumsnetWorld where everyone has a Masters, has paid off their mortgage by the time they're 37, have million £ pension pots and no fillings!

€600 and I am very, very proud of that considering we've never had anything close to that before.

Plus access to €1400 in overdrafts if needed due to paying those off.

We still do have debts as well but they are manageable and being paid down monthly.

That should cover us for any emergency really. I can't see a scenario where we would suddenly need tens of thousands. It would be nice to have money like that set aside in case we did. Hopefully one day.

We have £350 in savings right now.

I have recently been looking at premium bonds and think they’ll be a really effective way for me to put some money aside (I’m shocking at saving)

We would be utterly screwed if we had an emergency, but we are also unable to cut back any further. DH has already changed jobs for a higher salary, and had a pay increase in the last year (so very lucky!). I work evenings so we don’t pay out any childcare. We have little to no help from family (in laws both work FT, my mum is carer for my terminally ill dad)

@Dyrne That's a sensible thing to do...I wish we'd been better with money in our 20s. It's so much easier to save when you don't have kids.

@CheeseToastieLove Don't feel bad. Until recently we had no savings at all, and lots of debt. We had to make some serious cutbacks and lived with students that we took in as lodgers for several years until we paid the debts off and built up savings. It was only possible because we lived in a university town and had a spare room and no kids at the time.

In cash £0
Access to money about £30k if we really needed it
Both in secure well paid jobs, one income would easily cover our essential outgoings

Currently, more than a year’s salary.

This is not normal, but I have spent almost nothing other than household bills & groceries for the last 13 months, and I have been WFH so have saved a small fortune on commuting & lunch costs. With no holidays, no treats, no clothes shopping, no nights out, no weekends away, no sporting events & no new toys cash has accumulated in my account at an extraordinary rate.

I want to have 20k in a emergency fund which we don't touch & then have separate savings for house repairs etc. Should be there this yr & next yr aim to save another 20k to add to investments.

I only paid off my debts last year. I couldn't save whilst trying to do that as I had nothing spare. I'm late to the party, doing my best now. Had my first child at 17 and 40 now so I've got a lot of catching up to do!