Full disclosure: I haven’t been paid to write this post, but I will receive a commission for every reader who signs up and receives their £10 bonus payment. There are also Amazon affiliate links within this post, marked with *.
In recent years I have come to the realisation that, as Dave Ramsey, says, ‘It is going to rain. You need a rainy day fund.’ Events in the past few weeks have made me grateful that I have been putting money aside for tougher times. I had hoped not to have to use this money, but it seems it might be needed in the coming months.
As well as my regular savings, this year I have been squirrelling money away with the help of a clever app called Chip. I absolutely love it! I still put money away regularly myself, but Chip has added to this. If you want to do the same, you can sign up now using my unique code. After just two auto-saves you will be eligible for a £10 bonus*.
Why have a rainy day fund?
Putting money aside for the long term may seem like a luxury when you are struggling day to day. However, an emergency fund can reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with unexpected events like car break downs, loss of income or any other sudden large expense.
Even if you have debts, Dave Ramsey still recommends saving £1000 before you put all your efforts into becoming debt free. This way you can deal with small emergencies without taking on more debt.
By the way, if you have never read any Dave Ramsey I heartily recommend that you do and wrote a review of his book, The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness*
He will make you totally determined to get your finances in order once and for all.
How does Chip work?
Chip automatically puts money aside for you based on your spending habits, so you can stash a little cash away without even feeling it. Using AI to scan your transaction history, Chip moves the perfect amount so you won’t even notice it’s gone.
Every few days, if the Chip algorithm calculates that I can afford it, I get an email come through to say today Chip will move £X from my bank account (usually around £15 for me). I have the option to stop it if I want to, but so far I have just allowed it to do its thing. This means I have saved almost £300 in the last few months without even having to think about it.
Obviously, this amount will vary from person to person. If your income is greater than mine (very possible since I am newly self-employed and mine is all over the place!), Chip will move more – or less if it calculates that you don’t have much spare.
The Chip app was very quick to install and set up, plus it’s clear and easy to use.
Chip improvements
Chip has seen more people like us start and add more into their rainy day funds as a reaction to recent events, so have made some rapid improvements to their app.
They have lifted the manual save cap so that users can now deposit up to £10,000 into Chip. In addition, they have released their new advanced algorithm a little early. This means that chip is even more sensitive to your patterns of income. When it sees opportunities to save more aggressively it will, or it can slow down when you need it to.
My original plan was for my Chip fund to go towards a holiday. For the moment, those plans are on hold and my Chip stash is topping up my emergency fund. I am very grateful for this!
In the months ahead, we will be focussing even more than usual on living a thrifty and frugal lifestyle. We will be meal planning, growing some of our own food, walking or cycling to save on petrol, and spending as little as possible on anything other necessities.
So, don’t forget to take the opportunity to get your £10 bonus if you sign up to Chip today and kick start that rainy day fund!
*After two auto-saves, you will be eligible for the £10 welcome bonus. This is usually within 2 weeks. The bonus will then be credited to your Chip account within 30 days.
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