// you’re reading...

savings

grateful for my emergency fund

WSA adsense code -->

If you follow my twitter feed you’ll know that on Sunday, my house was broken into whilst I was out all day. I came back to find that the back door had partially been kicked on and that both laptops had been stolen, along with a camera, some papers and a couple of other bits and pieces. Naturally, I have contents insurance, which covers the stuff taken, as well as buildings insurance to cover the damage to the door.

But, actually at the moment, I’m most grateful for my emergency fund. I had no problems getting £300 to pay for a new door, and I’ve actually got myself a little Acer Aspire One so that I can blog and be more mobile. I should be getting a replacement laptop and camera from the insurance people, but I’ve got a few other things that need to be done promptly so I need access to a basic computer. Without my emergency fund, I would have been quite scuppered. As it is, the only problem really at the moment has been the hassle - I had to take most of the day off to sort stuff out.

Has anyone else had to access their emergency fund? I don’t know whether you’d consider my new little laptop and emergency, but the door definitely felt like one to me - it’s quite difficult to leave the house when there’s a big hole in the door.

Similar Posts:

If you like what you're reading, why not leave a comment below, subscribe to my feed, or check out some of my best posts.

Discussion

26 comments for “grateful for my emergency fund”

  1. Plonkee, I just picked this up in my email feed. I am sorry about what happened, but I’m glad you’re okay. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.

    Posted by Pinyo | September 15, 2008, 8:45 pm
  2. how terrible! I’m sorry to hear that but glad you were prepared!

    Posted by neimanmarxist | September 15, 2008, 9:17 pm
  3. Oy, so sorry to hear that, and glad you were ok! Thank goodness for an e-fund indeed.

    Posted by revanche | September 15, 2008, 9:31 pm
  4. Hi Plonkee,

    Sorry to hear about your break in but glad to hear you’re ok.

    Our emergency fund was recently substantially depleted by having to get our bolier fixed - £500 just to get our hot water working again. Not really an “emergency”, but it needed fixing before we spent loads on electricity for heating the water, and before the winter cold sets in.

    I find it really frustrating having to spend money on stuff just to get it back to the condition it was before it broke, much prefer spending money on new things.

    Posted by Rob Lewis | September 15, 2008, 9:43 pm
  5. Ugh, that’s so irritating, but good that you have not only an emergency fund but insurance, so many people seem to skimp on that (especially renters I think).

    Posted by Looby | September 15, 2008, 10:08 pm
  6. that sucks! so glad you were able to cover it. i have only had to access my EF once, and that was to cover a plumbing charge that i later got reimbursed for.

    Posted by deepali | September 15, 2008, 10:25 pm
  7. Glad you’re okay and sound fairly positive at this point, plonkee. What a horrible thing to happen. But, laptops are replaceable.

    We’ve used ours. Once for a plumber, who bizarrely didn’t actually cash the cheque for about eight weeks, and as I’ve commented before another more dramatic emergency involved three international flights, a lawyer and a bribe (I’m not kidding).

    Posted by guinness416 | September 15, 2008, 11:28 pm
  8. Plonkee, I’m sorry to hear that this happened to you. Didn’t this happen before? Did you have an alarm system installed? If not, that’s something you may need to do ASAP!

    Posted by SingleGuyMoney | September 16, 2008, 2:11 am
  9. Sorry to hear what happened. How awful! You’re right, you’re so lucky you had the EF. I used to always have to resort to credit cards for such things. I’m happy to have a baby EF in place now!

    Posted by Mydailydollars | September 16, 2008, 5:26 pm
  10. Thanks for the support guys.

    Looks like quite a few people have had plumbing/hot water emergencies. That makes sense, neither flooding, nor no hot water in the middle of winter are good things.

    @SGM
    The house has an alarm installed but because the previous owner didn’t leave me the codes I had to cut the wire when I moved in. So, at the moment, it still looks like a system is there it just isn’t functional. The only problem is that the way that they got in, round the back, means that no one would have seen them even if they had been alerted by an alarm, so I’m not sure what benefit it would bring.

    Posted by plonkee | September 16, 2008, 7:15 pm
  11. Rats. Pleased the EF came in handy, but still… Rats.

    Posted by Miss Thrifty | September 16, 2008, 8:15 pm
  12. I remember the last time the burglar didn’t get in, right?

    Ours hasn’t really had to be used. Fortunately, we have renter’s insurance too.

    Posted by Mrs. Micah | September 16, 2008, 8:30 pm
  13. Hopefully the thieves won’t be able to access any personal information on your laptops that they helped themselves to. Glad to hear that insurance is doing their part and that your emergency fund was in place. Sorry to hear your loss…

    Posted by tlangejr | September 16, 2008, 11:38 pm
  14. @Mrs. Micah
    Yes, the last time someone tried to break in the front door in a deeply incompetent way. This time they went for the more successful route at the back. I don’t particularly think that it’s the same people though.

    Posted by plonkee | September 17, 2008, 2:03 pm
  15. I’m so sorry about the burglary. I’m glad you weren’t there when the break-in occurred. Emergency funds can a bit more peace of mind as that’s one less thing to stress over.

    Posted by Laura Pilkington | September 19, 2008, 12:28 pm
  16. Sorry to hear about the break in. Though you have resources it’s still a big pain.

    We had to use the efund to help my FIL pay some legal bills. Otherwise it’s been left alone.

    Posted by sara l | September 19, 2008, 1:39 pm
  17. Very sorry to read about this, plonkee. :(

    But glad to hear you have insurance to cover everything.

    Posted by Patrick | September 19, 2008, 4:51 pm
  18. Oh Plonkee, so sorry to hear you were broken into. I too am glad you had that emergency fund!

    Posted by Frugal Trenches | September 20, 2008, 6:06 am
  19. that sure is some bad news! at least no one got hurt or anything like that… i also have an emergency fund of my own, it is quite comforting to know that you have that extra money for situations like these… aside from it being my funding in case of emergencies, i also call it my just because funding… if say i needed to purchase something outside of my budget, i sometimes use that money for the purchase…

    Posted by Hector | September 22, 2008, 4:51 pm
  20. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re house was broken into! Thank goodness you have the insurance to cover the damages. I love my emergency fund. It’s nice to know that you have the money stashed away. I have to dip into it every now and then when I overspend my budget, but I also pay it back when I can.

    Posted by Maggie | September 22, 2008, 6:03 pm
  21. Aw Plonkee, I’m sorry to learn about all that you’ve been through - ugh! Although I am glad that you are able to see the silver lining. Thank you for reminding us about the importance of an emergency fund!

    Posted by Chief Family Officer | September 23, 2008, 3:23 am

Post a comment

NETWORK
Proud member of the