How to keep savings "categories" separate?

[le-weekend]

I opened up a whole bunch of separate (free) savings accounts with Ally Bank, because they have a good interest rate and I couldn't find an online bank that lets you create virtual "envelopes" within the same account.

So now I have all these accounts called Household repairs, Emergency, Nest egg, Splurge, Big travel, Small travel etc.

Has anyone else found a better way of doing this?

[deek]

Following. I'd like some ideas too. The only way I know of is creating different savings accounts with my credit union....

[Rob_bob]

I too have a number of online accounts that I use as different budget buckets.  I didn't start out to do that, I was just chasing interest rates at the time  :)

I suppose many people just use one account and use a spreadsheet or expense tracking program to keep things in order.

[LWYRUP]

I love the You Need A Budget program, however, they have raised prices several times.  Formerly I would recommend it without hesitation, now I recommend it but with caveats.

The are other programs that are less comprehensive but less costly that do similar things.  I've heard people like GnuCash.  Here's a website with some other alternatives:  https://wallethacks.com/you-need-a-budget-ynab-alternatives/

For me, I am currently grandfathered into the old pricing ($50 a year) but also addicted anyways so would pay the increase (now $83.88) if needed until someone builds a better mousetrap.  I've saved more than $83 since using it, and I am weird and find it fun. 

[FamilyGuy]

I have the same idea to create multiple savings accounts for categories  like vacation, home and car maintenance etc. I am planning to open a checking account with a debit card just for groceries and dining expenses. I can simply send fixed dollars to the grocery card and use it only. Opening a checking account soon. I have 2 options that I know ...local credit union or capital 360.

[CupcakeGuru]

PTF. I am also looking for suggestions to do this.

[life_travel]

YNAB !! This way it's only one account (or in our case a few credit cards but they don't correspond with categories ). Yes it's not cheap but honestly we save more that $80 per year by using it and I love YNAB. I enter all transactions manually ( prefer it that way ) and I don't really look at my account to see how much money I have , I look at specific category in YNAB . Groceries , dining out , water , travel , anything really .

[11ducks]

I've got my daily account, a long term savings (that I buy shares from periodically), a slush fund (for semi regular big expenses like rego), a car replacement acct, a credit card and a mortgage account. I also take cash out to put aside for  school and annual holidays  (also doubles as a liquid emergency fund). Where possible I bill smoothe ( though electric is charged quarterly,
I pay monthly, so I rarely have a big bill).

To make the slush fund work, I grouped together estimates for all irregular fees, incl
- car rego servicing and tyres
- School uniform, books and fees
- Christmas, Easter, birthdays
- annual work fees
- kid sport fees
- house rates and an improvement fund
- a generous estimate for dental fees
- and other bits and pieces

It took a few years of adding/updating to perfect it, but I'm rarely caught short now.

[ncornilsen]

For things like car insurance that I pay yearly, I have an account on Smarty pig. They let you divide up your funds in any number of small sub-accounts. I also keep really long term emergency fund stuff there.

In my savings account at my bank, where I keep funding I want to get at quicker, I just use a spreadsheet and track it manually.

Its a bit of a PITA, but the extra attention paid to my accounts helps keep me focused on my goals, and helps me catch fraud. (only once, luckily!)

[Lady SA]

I don't have separate accounts -- I have a single savings account that holds our emergency fund, slush fund for repairs, car replacement fund, vacation fund, and the beginnings of a downpayment fund (this last one, I'm considering moving to it's own account, but undecided yet).

Basically, I just have a big pile of money in there, and I just know that the first $12k is our emergency fund. The $2k on top of that is our slush fund (car repair, med bills, etc -- we live in an apartment so no home maint costs). The $9k on top of THAT is our beater car replacement fund. $3k on top of that is for vacation (reimburse cc's for flights, paying cash for vacations, etc), and then anything going on top of ALLL of that is the beginnings of a downpayment. However we really are undecided on buying a house within the next few years so we aren't really aggressively pursuing this. Our apartment is such a good deal in a great location that we are reluctant to move at all.

Essentially, the way this system works is like one of those fancy champagne glass towers. Money comes in and flows down to the foundational "funds" - the emergency fund and slush fund. Only after those are completely filled does money overflow and begin to fill up the other funds. If a fund has to be dipped into, then any incoming money is mentally reserved for replenishing that fund. We add $500 per month to this "super savings" account.

Let's, say our savings account has $25k in it. That means our emergency fund, our slush fund, and our car replacement fund are all fully funded, and then we are ~halfway to filling up our vacation fund. We haven't gotten to the point of putting anything into downpayment though. Now, let's say we have a big, unexpected tax bill to pay off, like $5k. So now the super savings account only has $20k in it -- we used up all our "slush fund" and part of our "emergency fund" for this $5k bill. But, I still have $20k -- so this means I technically actually still have a fully funded emergency fund and slush fund, and most of our car replacement fund still there, but our "fun" fund (vacation payoff) has been totally depleted. But because for our circumstances, the vacation and downpayment "sub funds" are not essential, so it's ok for me to slowly replenish these over time with $500 a month. We end up dipping into our super savings account so rarely that we add much, much more than we take out.

This system works because I am pretty strict about it, but I also like that it allows for flexibility if need be, and I'm not shuffling money around to 20 different accounts. If my slush fund is $2k but I get a $3k bill, its not a big deal to "borrow" from my other funds -- it just gets naturally replenished over time. This is because at any one time, I'm not using all of the sub funds at once. If we lose our jobs and dip into our emergency fund, I'm not also going out to buy a new car and go on vacation. So this allows for a bit of flexibility and flow between the funds, for whichever is taking priority at this point in time.

edit: also, we keep a month buffer in our checking account, so another $3k, on top of our paychecks coming in (which automatically get allocated and distributed to investments, savings, bills, etc). So just that buffer alone means we can absorb the impact of most higher bills that come our way and almost never have to dip into the super savings account, except in cases where the bill exceeds what this buffer could absorb.

[Blackeagle]

+1 on YNAB.  This is pretty much the problem it's designed to solve.

[Raenia]

I use PNC Virtual Wallet to set savings buckets.  Both the "Reserve" and "Growth" accounts allow you to set up savings goals, as many as you want in each.  The interest rates aren't as good as Ally, but if the savings goals are short- or medium-term, that doesn't matter as much.  I currently have Travel, Wedding, House Downpayment, and Car Sinking Fund with their own target amounts.  I am planning to move my Emergency Fund to Ally, for the higher interest rate, but that is the only one that will be in a separate account.  I prefer it something like YNAB, both because that costs money, and because linking up accounts to a third party is a security risk, and often invalidates the security guarantees from your bank if something were to happen.

[netskyblue]

I have a spreadsheet into which I enter all my transactions.  Every paycheck, I make an entry into each category, like $350 to rent, $10 to car maintenance, $40 to internet, etc.  Each time I spend, I specify what category the expense is from.  Then on the first sheet, I have pivot tables that show me how much is in each category (may be a positive or negative amount), and the total amount I have.

My spreadsheet is pretty in-depth, I have pivot tables with timelines that show me income or expenses for any period of time I choose (normally I look at one month at a time, or one year at a time).

[jlcnuke]

Money is fungible. Putting it in another account of the same type changes nothing other than the amount of work you need to do. As such, I don't bother with a bunch of accounts "for different things".

[ChickenStash]

Money is fungible. Putting it in another account of the same type changes nothing other than the amount of work you need to do. As such, I don't bother with a bunch of accounts "for different things".

Same here. As long as it is being used responsibly then how it is stored isn't important.