Nope.  I just pay my monthly bills out of my checking account.  I’d think it would be too much of a hassle to setup sinking funds for everything.  I had a fund called “car fund” at one time.  That was to cover registration, semi-annual insurance payments, and eventual car replacement.

Hey, everyone.
 Been recovering from my trip, and a cold I got along the way, by laying low and pouring a lot of time this week into our ongoing budget efforts.
 One of the things we’ve been struggling with, is sticking to the budget in certain categories.
 We’re hitting the big ones, but small categories like clothing or personal, it’s easy to blow off allocating that money on a regular basis.
 Then it’s not there when we need it.
 Instead that money is spent on other line items.
 

One way around that, which was presented in FPU class, was to work on the cash basis.
 We tried that and it drove us nuts for a variety of reasons.
 I don’t want to get back into that argument right now, because I know there are folks who would advocate we try it again.
 We’re not going to, and I’m looking for other options.

One option which has just occurred to me, is to set up actual sinking funds for each of the major budget categories, such as Housing, Utilities, Transportation, etc.
 I could set up automatic transfers at the beginning of each month, for the allocated amounts to go into each account.
 Then, set up those accounts to pay for the various costs which come out of those accounts.
 It would make for a lot of accounts, granted.
 But since most of our purchasing/billpaying is done online anymore, it seems a way to really cut down on the wear and tear I currently have to go through to get money budgeted, bills paid and accounts balanced.

Anyone have a setup like this, or tried one like this?  If so, what were your findings?  I don’t want to go through the hassle of setting everything up if there’s some big problem with this approach.
 Thanks for any input……..

Kathryn Kerby

— If Pro is the opposite of Con, what’s the opposite of Progress?

Working all cash didn’t work for us, its too easy to move the money around.
So we do have multiple bank accounts but they do not have an ATM/debit card/ check book… when we want to spend money we have to transfer it and it’s a 6 per month transfer out fee, we can deposit in as many times as we want.  Since these are meant to be more of a savings then spending account, it works for us.
  We could do then as spending accounts and then have auto withdrawls, however the interest rate is a lot better for us this way.
  Once its set up its really easy to manage, the hardest part was deciding what to name each account, what it would actually cover & a set dollar amount.  Then the task of typing in the info.    Kari

Kathryn, I wish I had advice for you but I don’t.  I am a very visual & tactile person.  I like seeing & touching the money.  Now for many of the 4 walls, they get paid straight from our main checking … tithes & gifts, house payment, health/life/auto insurance, utilities, etc.  For most of the rest of it, it comes out in cash.  I like looking in the envelopes and seeing how much is there.
Now there comes a point with certain envelopes where I’ll have to have a separate account.  One pointed example of this is a fund to replace our roof.  We just had it replaced in the last year.  I am not expecting any problems.  However, if we start saving now, we can save a little each month to go toward it in 20 years or so.  At least in theory.  We live in hurricane territory so I don’t expect us to be able to go 20 years.  That is why I say “in theory”.
If you live here long enough, you’re going to have to replace a roof due to a hurricane.  Many insurance companies want to do patch jobs.  Those sounds cheaper and usually is in the short run.  However none of the roofers who did our last one (after hurricane Gustav, 2008 at our previous home), did not do patch jobs.  Plus the adjuster missed a bunch of damage on the back side of the house.  The roof we replaced last year at our “new to us” house was replaced simply because it was past its life expectancy and needed replacement.
Oh, I smell supper better go for now.  Sorry I can’t help more! Blessings, Cindy