Scared to spend hard-earned

[suityou01]

Thanks to all who've replied so far. I'm not overly worried about being benched, I'm prepared to work basically anywhere in the north west if I have to, but I read other posts here and start to realise that anything's possible in terms of finding work or not. I've been lucky in that I've had no downtime so far in 21 months of contracting but you should never count your chickens etc etc

I'm the only earner in the household so if the cash starts to run out then the missus will have to go onto chatlines or webcams or something...

Ignorance is bliss eh?

[northernladuk]

One important thing to consider when working out how much warchest you need is to think about what your outgoings are per month (on average). I had a couple of months off and I was quite surprised how little I spent in that period. I didn't particularly change my lifestyle but the actual cash I needed was much less than I thought it was. It just meant that few months my net wealth didn't go up but actual outgoings was fairly low. I think many people's warchests would actually last a lot lot longer than they realise if they have to.

I gauged my warchest on how many months I had at my current spending/saving rate. The reality can be much cheaper so warchest looks a lot healthier. Certainly relaxed my view on my war chest since then.

[DannyF1966]

You only have to look at this thread to see how perilous things can get - 633 applications

Ouch! I really really hope it doesn't come to that

[TheFaQQer]

One important thing to consider when working out how much warchest you need is to think about what your outgoings are per month (on average). I had a couple of months off and I was quite surprised how little I spent in that period. I didn't particularly change my lifestyle but the actual cash I needed was much less than I thought it was. It just meant that few months my net wealth didn't go up but actual outgoings was fairly low. I think many people's warchests would actually last a lot lot longer than they realise if they have to.

I gauged my warchest on how many months I had at my current spending/saving rate. The reality can be much cheaper so warchest looks a lot healthier. Certainly relaxed my view on my war chest since then.

The issues comes with also deciding when do you start cutting back to make it last longer. If I knew I was going to take a year off now, I'd plan things so that I knew I had plenty to last the year and however long it took to get back to work. If I was benched now, I know I wouldn't start cutting back on day one, because I'm confident I'd find something. After a month, I might vaguely think about it, but I like my standard of living. After three months, I might be a bit more interested in cutting back - but after three months, you know that there is bound to be something along soon. So it's probably about six months before you really start making cuts - at which stage you find a contract, splurge the cash and never think about cutting back again.

Until the next time.

[jjdarg]

Funnily enough, left last contract in late Oct, got a few bites in Nov, nothing reeled in by Dec, so in December, I made a pretty big review of regular payments for things I don't need, or should be paying less for after a bit of research.

I do this sort of overhaul every time I'm on the bench...And then start splurging like a sailor on payday once the new contract is signed...

[SueEllen]

The issues comes with also deciding when do you start cutting back to make it last longer. If I knew I was going to take a year off now, I'd plan things so that I knew I had plenty to last the year and however long it took to get back to work. If I was benched now, I know I wouldn't start cutting back on day one, because I'm confident I'd find something. After a month, I might vaguely think about it, but I like my standard of living. After three months, I might be a bit more interested in cutting back - but after three months, you know that there is bound to be something along soon. So it's probably about six months before you really start making cuts - at which stage you find a contract, splurge the cash and never think about cutting back again.

Until the next time.

It depends what you spend your money on.

When you are benched you have more time so some of the things you spend money on to help save time you don't need or want to do. For example shopping in a market for fruit and veg/ ethnic store versus a supermarket. (OK I'm watching a food program.)