What’s your zero?

[TangySuits]

Name change… Curious to know what people’s ‘zero’ is when funds are low. What is in your account if you’re running low or skint? Be good to know peoples perception of how they view the value of money. In a single parent and my zero is £15. Really wish I could save more but food and general basics is very costly

I don't really have a zero as such as I have some savings

But generally I try not to spend more than I earn each month

If I go over I try to underspend the next month

But if it all goes really wrong I can transfer money from my savings

But alas can only do that so many times, and the only reason I have savings is during my divorce I borrowed to much money to buy my ex out (it was complicated) so kept the rest in the bank just incase

I know we are fortunate, but if the joint account gets close to 3 figures I cut right down on discretionary spends until pay day.

I would feel more comfortable knowing we could cover most unexpected purchases without dipping into savings, so keep that buffer in there.

That must be really stressful getting down to £15 OP.

-£1000

My zero is zero I suppose, although I start to get concerned at less than £100, depending on how far we are from payday.

I always try and keep two months mortgage

Fortunate to have savings accounts, but in our current account I keep a buffer of £2k, this is a month of direct debits/mortgage payment, incase salary payment is ever delayed.

If i dont have £1000 in my current account I'd start to panic.

Around about £600 is when I start worrying about our spending. We have savings but they’re stocks and shares ISAs so I wouldn’t want to be forced to pull money out of them since they go up and down daily.

Interesting question. I aim to transfer £200 into easy-access savings + 30% overpayment on mortgage on pay day, and then get to just above zero before the next payday. If I overshoot I withdraw a little from the easy-access savings. So I'm not sure my zero is easy to calculate, will say zero. What sometimes happens is that I assume I have more money than expected towards the end of the month and I hit zero on a frivolous purchase. I'm working on it.

My zero would be zero but fortunately I have savings and never need to spend all my salary.

£400

I have 3 accounts…
current- my “zero” is less than 500…
emergency fund- this always has 1000 in it
savings-this is for longer term stuff…

single parent and I suppose I let the current go below 500 and think ok that’s it, reign it in. But I don’t panic as such because I have the emergency fund and savings.

In my current account, my zero is often 0 after my personal bills are paid. I use my credit card if needed. I transfer from a sinking fund account if I need cash, which is very rare.

My current account 0 is 0, but we have both short term and long term savings accounts and ISAs which we add to each month so it’s not actually 0.

I have savings but don’t like to let my current account drop below £300 - so that’s my zero

Current account, probably £100, unless it’s a few days before payday when zero is £0 - but I have tens of thousands of savings I could draw on so even zero in the current account isn’t really zero

We transfer enough to,cover food for the month (and all other bills etc) so technically what we have left is for our own purposes.

We have our own money but also share money if that makes sense. My husband earns considerably more than me and always has but we both have equal say on how any spare is spent.

It’s a fairly new experience for us to have spare money so I understand where the op is coming from.

My zero is definitely zero. Or actually -500 as I’m constantly overdrawn. Planning to reduce gradually by £100 chunks.

In my current account zero is zero, I don’t plan to have money left in there at the end of the month as I transfer to savings as soon as I get paid. Savings are a mix of ISAs, notice accounts and easy access. That said I do usually have over £100 at the end of the month and if it got close to zero even for a day I would temporarily transfer something in from my savings just in case an unexpected debit put me into overdraft.

On our joint account, we make sure we keep £2k in there at all times. Similarly to a PP this is a month's worth of mortgage and bills payments so we have it there as a permanent float for peace of mind.

We transfer money to various savings pots at the start of the month so we've "paid ourselves first" and then we make do with the rest. If we did dip below £2k in the current account we'd move the difference out of savings so it was balanced again for the next month.

On my personal account my zero probably is zero. Although I like to keep £100 in there at a minimum as I don't want to go into a negative balance.

In general the aim is to stay out of overdrafts, pay off the credit card each month and to prioritise savings.

I have an interest only mortgage and a fair wodge the cash to pay it off is easily accessible so I don't have a true zero.

We put pretty much all spending on a credit card and don't really keep track of the balance so like to have at least 2k in the account to make sure the dd doesn't ever bounce.

I have savings now, and no mortgage, but I remember all too well the days when my zero was a few quid less than my maximum overdraft. So even now, I panic slightly if my current account gets down to double figures with a week to go before my pension arrives. I have £80 in that account today, three days before my pension arrives, and I’m having to work very hard not transfer money from my savings just in case (in case of what, fuck knows - none of my direct debits go out of that account)

Depends on the time of year. Our monthly standing order into the living account includes annual costs pro-rated. The majority of these are February to April so in Feb I feel comfortable with £1000+ at the end of the month because I know there's about that amount due to come out in the following months.
In April I'm happy with £100-200 and then as the months go past I want that amount to be increasing monthly by month.
I try to not keep too much surplus in accounts and try to have as much as possible in the next savings account with a mix of easy access and fixed accounts. One of the easy access accounts is with the same bank as our living account for ease of shuffling money if needed even if it's not as good of a rate.

I recently sold our family home, so I am fortunate to have savings. But in my current account I try not to let it go below £80.

If I had less than £1k in my current account I'd not panic as such but I'd start being very careful.

I do have various savings pots but I try not to dip into them so mostly pretend they don't exist.