Queen of bargains

Do you have enough cash put away to tide you over if you lose your job? If not, you need to take action

More than one in four UK households have no emergency savings pot, which means they’ll have nothing to fall back on if their circumstances change. Here’s what you need to know.

1 Savvy savings

According to the Money Advice Centre, a good rule of thumb is to have enough cash to cover three months’ essential outgoings saved. This can seem daunting but saving just £3 a day, for example, will build up to £1,095 over a year. There are also insurance policies that cover redundancy or if you can’t work due to illness. For more details, visit moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

2 Every little helps

If you feel you don’t have any spare cash to save then look at all

the ways you can trim your outgoings to see if this generates any extra money.

It will all add up – whether it’s going through your loft and seeing what you can sell online or at a car boot sale, or cutting down on ‘habit spending’ by taking your own lunch to work each day instead of buying it.

3 Find the best place to save

Once you have done the hard work of saving, you’ll want to make sure it’s working as hard as possible earning interest, so don’t let it languish in an account with poor rates. Shop around for a good deal – but remember you may need to get hold of the money quickly, so look for accounts that won’t charge penalties for making withdrawals.