How do you split you pots of money?

KS2008

Hi All,

Still quite new-ish here and trying to get my head around things.
I have realised that the main reason I keep running out of money is that I don't budget properly! I started last year with a new budget etc but kept going over and still having no money :mad:

After reading here about how people cost other things in, I decided I would open another account to put money in each month for car stuff (e.g. MOT's, tax etc) - I had never done this before!

Anyway, my car tax is due at the end of this month and because I opened this other account it means I have the money there in this account (less £10) to pay for the tax - usually at this point I would wondering where I was going to get the money from etc and probably ending up borrowing it from somewhere!

So pleased with the success of this I have opened another account entitled 'Christmas Money' and set up a standing order for £20 a month starting next month....

I was wondering what other 'pots' of money people have?
And also whether it is better to put this money into a savings or current account?
(I am currently putting them into esavings accounts with instant access)

Thanks for reading :j

niksyg

Hello!

I am not as organised as some people so I have 2 current accounts, a savings account and then OH and I have a joint account too.

My pay goes into my 'Bills' account on the last working day of every month.
I then transfer £350 into my 'spends' account.
The money left in 'Bills' does what it says on the tin and pays all the bills going out that are set up with direct debits. It also pays £400 into the joint account which the mortgage comes out of.

The 'spends' account is then used for spends such as food, entertainment, dog food and training etc.
I buy all my diesel on a credit card that gets cleared every month by what is left in the 'Bills' account after all the other things have come out.

I transfer money into my saving account on a Monday and Friday (Monday is £7.00 for £365 in 365, Friday is round down for VSP).

This works for me fine, and as I check my banking on a daily basis I can move money about if I really need to, but hardly ever do.

JulieGeorgiana

I have 2 current account (one for bills) and a savings (which is for all my 'pots') I have a list of pots on my spreadsheet and how much is in each 'pot'

i have pots for the following:

Pet Savings - Vet vaccinations and deworm/flea stuff
Emergency Fund - Shoes, hair cuts and clothes
Baby Items - Nappies and Formula (if required)
School Savings - Uniform and shoes over the summer
Rental Renewal - Fee to renew my tenancy
Roos' passport - Saving for babies passport (one off saving pot)
Roo's Savings - Money given for Roo
Hobby Fund - This is for my DH to pay for his hobbies
Petrol
Food
Norway Spending - This is a one off savings for extra money for our summer holiday
Birthdays/Christmas - This is then broken down further
Car Costs - This is then broken down further (MoT, Tax, Breakdown, Insurance and Servicing)
Holiday

then I have a pot for my Credit Card repayments as I put all my food, petrol and spending on a card and pay it off in full each month using this pot.

On top of this I have my ISA and Regular Savings for saving money which needs to earn better interest.

HTH

Catslovelycats

These are my pots:

- annual expenses (car etc)
- monthly household budget
- vet and house emergencies
- pay off credit card balances
- monthly bills
- miscellaneous and pets (any other spending: pet food, presents, myself etc)
- travel
They are all online bank accounts. I don't trust myself with cash in hand and like to earn what little interest I can!

- separate ISAs and savings account for specific savings (like Christmas and so on)

HTH

coldcazzie

When we were paying off our debts I had 2 accounts: a joint account into which went his wage and the CB and that paid the bills, and my sole account into which went the TC and that paid for everything we needed to live off (food). His travel expenses got counted as a bill, so whenever he needed to buy a new monthly bus and train pass he would take his card into town to buy it on his way to work, and then when he got home he would surrender it back to me. Because he was the one with the uncontrollable spending urges it was safer that way. I also had an instant access account into which I put £25 a month: that was to cover things like clothing, shoes, christmas and birthdays etc. I'd then draw out of that pot if I had to buy anything. As we didn't have any other expenses at the time, and the focus was debt repayment rather than saving up for things in the future, we didn't need any other pots.

Now... well now we've no debts and would like to overpay the mortgage, but want to save up 6 months worth of rainy day savings, as well as start saving for the future. So now I'm looking to have short, medium and long term pots, but each of those pots may encompass several saving accounts for example, I've an instant access account which has the money in it that we've saved in the past, and a regular saver into which we pay a fixed monthly amount, and an ISA which was money given as a gift, so 3 seperate accounts, but they all come under the umbrella of our rainy day savings...

My OH worries that if I start opening more accounts I'll make it more complicated than it needs to be. Sometimes I agree with him :rotfl: I've not worked out what is the best thing for us yet. I'm still getting used to not having debt to pay, it feels very odd. Only 2 years ago we were still in a very fragile financial state. What I do know is that what works for you isn't related to what works for others. So if having several pots works for you, then go for it! (and if you're going to have lots of accounts, don't be afraid to make them work for you by gaining you as much interest as possible!)

crazycatlady1984

KS2008 wrote: »

Hi All,

Still quite new-ish here and trying to get my head around things.
I have realised that the main reason I keep running out of money is that I don't budget properly! I started last year with a new budget etc but kept going over and still having no money :mad:

After reading here about how people cost other things in, I decided I would open another account to put money in each month for car stuff (e.g. MOT's, tax etc) - I had never done this before!

Anyway, my car tax is due at the end of this month and because I opened this other account it means I have the money there in this account (less £10) to pay for the tax - usually at this point I would wondering where I was going to get the money from etc and probably ending up borrowing it from somewhere!

So pleased with the success of this I have opened another account entitled 'Christmas Money' and set up a standing order for £20 a month starting next month....

I was wondering what other 'pots' of money people have?
And also whether it is better to put this money into a savings or current account?
(I am currently putting them into esavings accounts with instant access)

Thanks for reading :j

That sounds pretty similar to what I do

I have one current account which is soley for bills (keep my card at home so I am not tempted to use it!), another current account for my "spending money" then I have an e-savings acc (instant access) for emergency cash, to take from into my spending acc, or for anything unexected (but try to keep it topped up for any major emergencies). I then have various wee savings acc's for car, holiday, christmas, mortgage overpayments (aim to overpay by approx £100 per month) and loft conversion which I am saving up for.

I started doing this a few years ago when I was saving for deposit for house and I find its pretty good - unless anyone has any other suggestions??

I also keep a spreadhseet (with columns for my debts as well ) so I can keep track

vasseur

I have six accounts all with online banking:-

Current account - salary gets paid into
House account - mortgage and all bills
Food account - transfer over £160 or £200 each month
Petrol account -transfer over £80 p/month
Holiday savings
Emergency account

I really need to get into the habit of transferring money over to cover car tax and MOT/service, thing is it's quite hard to start up lots of different pots at the same time as trying to pay debt off. As it is it has taken me a good 6 months to be in the position to start funding the above accounts. However, I no longer quake at the thought of having to get petrol or buy food because I know the money has already been accounted for.

mrsb83_2

I have two savings accounts. I use one for big things that I'm saving for over a few months (e.g Christmas or a holiday).

For regular savings for things like car maintenance, insurance, tax, clothing, household maintenance, I put it all in one account and keep a handwritten note of how much is in each virtual 'pot'.

I just transfer what I need into my current account before/after I pay it.

lizzywig

I have various bank accounts (all but first 3 are esavers) and spreadsheets to go alongside.

Current account: salary paid in here and this is the a/c I use for day to day spending
Internet account: for shopping online only, that way I keep track of how much I'm spending and no suprise amounts come out of my account. Also if I'm subject to some kind of dodgy online card copying them I'm only going to lose £20 or £30 as opposed to my entire bank balance!
Joint account: all household bills come out of this account
Savings: as stated
Food shopping: £200 goes in each month and I try to spend as little as possible, leftover rolls over and so on until Christmas
Household: this is a new a/c which I'm using while on mat leave and is for things like hair cuts, birthdays and christmas
House: this is for house repairs and improvements
Car account: this is for tax, mot, service, repairs, petrol etc

I find that it really works for us and although we're not at the stage yet where we're able to pay off our mortgage we're well on the way to sorting out our debts and are able to live comfortably. Would love to know how other people budget too.

borkid

catslovelycats wrote: »

These are my pots:

- annual expenses (car etc)
- monthly household budget
- vet and house emergencies
- pay off credit card balances
- monthly bills
- miscellaneous and pets (any other spending: pet food, presents, myself etc)
- travel
They are all online bank accounts. I don't trust myself with cash in hand and like to earn what little interest I can!

- separate ISAs and savings account for specific savings (like Christmas and so on)

HTH

That's more or less what we do except after we worked out what was needed we calculated what was left and shared that between the 2 of us. That's our 'pocket money' which we have in our own account and spend how ever we like. All monthly bills are paid by DD and we are very generous with allocating money for food etc so we can afford to splash out if say we have people over to dinner or decide I can't be bothered cooking. However we have had 35+ years of being careful with money and it has paid off, no mortgage and no debts with money to spare, not vast amounts but enough.

rising_from_the_ashes

I've always been very similar in that I've never budgeted properly - mainly down to "robbing Peter to pay Paul" when I was clearing my debts!

A "new me" is trying to emerge & learn to do it properly....;) I have:

• Main account - salary paid in / there are a couple of personal direct debits (charity donations etc) that come out / I pay the credit card bill from it / cash withdrawls (around £20/month)
• Household account - transfer a set amount to this on payday & all direct debits come out of it (never need to worry about having enough money to pay these:D which is a huge relief)

I also have the following pots - money is transferred from my main account on payday. Any spends during the month are transferred back to the main account when the credit card bill arrives & this is then paid from there:

• Cats (food, litter, vet expenses)
• Dog (food, vet expenses)
• House insurance (so can pay this annually)
• Car (maintenance, service, MOT, Tax, breakdown cover & planning to pay annually from renewal)
• Savings pot (hopefully soon to be renamed Groceries & Fuel pot!)
• Emergency savings (household appliances etc)
• Monthly savings plan (boiler replacement - £25/month - higher interest than a "pot" but not as easy to make withdrawls)

I'm currently having to pay a bit extra to most of these (I only started them part way through the year when I became DF) to meet this years needs but these should drop to "normal" levels throughout the year.

Some people only have one "big pot" and keep track on a spreadsheet ..... I'm not that confident yet!:o