Saving for your rainy day - Mouths of Mums

According to a recent survey by ME Bank, many of us are concerned about having a lack of cash savings and more than one in three of us would struggle to come up with $1,000 cash if required.

Although savings rates are hovering at their highest levels, around 10%, there are still a large proportion of us who struggle to consistently save.

Let’s face it, it’s much more fun and motivating to save for an overseas shopping spree or your dream car but it’s just as important to create a steady savings plan to ensure you have a buffer of savings in case you need to call on it unexpectedly.

I know you’re thinking insurance will cover you in a real emergency and that may be the case but having your own stockpile of cash is far more practical, accessible and cost effective.

Here are some things to get you started when planning your saving for a real rainy day fund:

If it’s easier for you to separate your savings by goal, open a savings account for each one – with so many fee free savings accounts on the market, this will maintain your good intentions without paying for it.
Set up an automatic savings plan whereby small amounts are taken from your salary and directed to each of your savings accounts.
Make sure you’re getting a good interest rate on your savings. A lot of providers offer very high introductory rates that drop after a few months. Mozo compare over 175 savings accounts which are broken down by promo rate, standard rate, fees, etc. so you know exactly which account will give you the best deal in the long term.

The ME Bank survey was conducted in June 2014 and is based on a survey of more than 1,500 Australian households.

36 Comments

- - ChiWren said
  - 02 Oct 2024
    1:50 pm
It’s best to look into a bank account that will reward you for deposits and not withdrawing. Get that extra cheddar!!

- - mom486197 said
  - 05 Aug 2024
    11:32 am
All of my savings go into my mortgage offset so that it helps pay off my mortgage a little quicker. High interest rate accounts are great but i prefer to put in my offset account. I have my budget itemised so i can clearly see what savings i have for which things. I would like to get better at this but i am baby stepping it as it can be challenging to make big changes.

- - mom101628 said
  - 17 Nov 2016
    11:21 pm
I have saved for a rainy day all my life – and they pop up more than I would like, but I usually can get by. Anyone who doesn’t do this is on the road to disaster.

- - mom112217 said
  - 31 Oct 2016
    10:24 pm
I have only recently become a great saver and loving it!

- - mom81879 said
  - 22 Nov 2015
    4:36 pm
Yep, I’m one of those people that would struggle to scrape $1000 in an emergency. I try to save, I even start saving, but bills get in the way and my savings attempt soon disappears

- - dannsbuild said
  - 22 Sep 2015
    5:24 pm
Good knowledge to know! Thanks for sharing this!

- - smiles said
  - 30 Apr 2015
    2:40 pm
We have an emergency account so we have instant access to money and it doesn’t get touched for anything else.

- - mom101330 said
  - 10 Mar 2015
    11:52 am
Really good article. I save every week even if it only $10 it just keeps me saving and not getting into the routine of NOT saving. Saving can be done on any income it doesn’t have to be a lot but it is all about balance and some sacrifice at times.

- - kazjl said
  - 11 Jan 2015
    10:28 am
Sounds good if I had anything spare to save for a rainy day. Lol.
Anything ever saved always gets spent on unexpected bills. :/

- - matildaspice said
  - 10 Jan 2015
    10:07 pm
Great tips, thank you for the article.

- - mom94125 said
  - 10 Jan 2015
    1:12 pm
it is good to save and show the kids that it is possible

- - tahliyah said
  - 01 Jan 2015
    10:17 pm
I used to be a shocking saver!!! As in i couldn’t save anything at all!!! Now that I have a daughter and I am a single mother i want to teach her great habits and not have to stress about having a roof over our head. I have pulled in my spending and have started separating needs from wants and I’m saving great now.

- - rachaelchara said
  - 31 Dec 2014
    5:20 pm
I am a very good saver and only purchase items I really need or have saved up for.

- - mom109463 said
  - 18 Dec 2014
    12:13 am
I raised 3 children as a single mum, I worked fulltime and paid a mortgage as I did not want to be at the mercy of a landlord or have to shift every six months, but now I have an illness which has had a devastating effect on my life so my retired husband and myself are on a fixed income, but I am very savvy with our money, I put $20 a fortnight in an acct that I have had for 20 years to keep the acct open, this comes to about $500 a year which we use for extras at Christmas, I put $200 per fortnight in another online acct that lets me transfer it back to our normal acct and I use this to pay our big bill, like insurance, car rego, council rates etc, this builds up to several thousands depending on the time of the year as bills do not seem to come in at nice intervals, I also put another $200 in a goal saver which pays a high interest if you do not take any money out, I have done this for just over 12 mnths now and have managed to save about 6k, I have no plans for this money and just started it to see if we could cope with it and we do not notice it because it is not in our normal account and we do not see it, we do have a term deposit and I think I will add it to that next time it becomes due but I am quite proud that I have saved this money without any real effort. basically if u cant see it u cant spend it. and I like the idea of being able to access several thousand dollars without any problems,

- - smurf1309 said
  - 10 Nov 2014
    10:29 pm
Getting into the saving mindset by having a plan for your goal helps, otherwise it’s too easy to just spend.

- - mom82590 said
  - 03 Nov 2014
    6:59 pm
Intrest rates vary with the banks. Shop around for a good one

- - Mummy1214 said
  - 31 Oct 2014
    9:52 pm
Every little bit helps. Regular saving is the key and it will add up in no time!

- - jabelle said
  - 29 Oct 2014
    6:08 pm
having a goal, both short and long term definitely helps.

- - mom93821 said
  - 28 Oct 2014
    7:15 pm
Thanks again, have been looking into interest rates.

- - mom60497 said
  - 13 Oct 2014
    8:01 pm
Having a separate account for saving is the best idea. If you get into the habit to transfer some funds into it first thing every payday, you will get used to not having that money, and the savings account will grow. Set it up that it cannot be withdrawn by card or internet banking (ie you HAVE to go into the branch) and just wait for it to mount up.