How to bucket out savings for different things?

gsmh

IvanOpinion said:

We're talking about adults whoMaybe the education system is letting them down - spreadsheets are one of the easiest tools out there.

We're talking about adults, many of whom who may not have even received any computer education. As head of computing in a secondary school I can reliably inform you that spreadsheets used to be centre stage in the ICT curriculum. A few years ago schools were instructed to move away from teaching spreadsheets, modelling and suchlike to teaching coding. We have a generation of young people who could knock together a pretty competent app but who might struggle using a spreadsheet. I'm not sure you can argue that the education system is letting them down because they do not have the skills to cobble together a spreadsheet to comprehensively record and plan their finances, especially when there are free tools available to do it for them. What you're doing would be pretty niche for someone working outside the world of finance or not a regular of this forum.

RG2015

We are all different. Some prefer spreadsheets and others bespoke software. Each have both advantages and disadvantages. I use spreadsheets for all of my financial requirements and personally see no need for any sort of money manager.

I have been using spreadsheets since 1980. First Supercalc then Lotus 123 and now Excel. I even used to use Excel for word processing because I hate Microsoft Word. This was clearly illogical but it was my preference. 

Others I know used Word tables when Excel would have more suitable because they were more comfortable with Word.

RG2015

gsmh said:

IvanOpinion said:

We're talking about adults whoMaybe the education system is letting them down - spreadsheets are one of the easiest tools out there.

We're talking about adults, many of whom who may not have even received any computer education. As head of computing in a secondary school I can reliably inform you that spreadsheets used to be centre stage in the ICT curriculum. A few years ago schools were instructed to move away from teaching spreadsheets, modelling and suchlike to teaching coding. We have a generation of young people who could knock together a pretty competent app but who might struggle using a spreadsheet. I'm not sure you can argue that the education system is letting them down because they do not have the skills to cobble together a spreadsheet to comprehensively record and plan their finances, especially when there are free tools available to do it for them. What you're doing would be pretty niche for someone working outside the world of finance or not a regular of this forum.

I remember an IT manager at my company saying he did not agree with his daughter being taught times tables and general arithmetic because we now had calculators to do this.

gobeye

It may be overkill for what you are after but YNAB (You Need A Budget) would give you this functionality and much more. My money is all over the shop, spread between higher interest current accounts etc. but YNAB doesn't care and I can create 'pots' easily and allocate money, set targets, deadlines etc. I've been avid user for around four years now and it has honestly been financially life changing.

ozaz

To those advocating spreadsheets - you're assuming people have computers at home. For many their smartphone is their only personal computer. Using a spreadsheet on a smartphone isn't a particularly good experience, even if you're proficient with spreadsheets. 

By the way - I use spreadsheets for some of my own financial planning and tracking (also use apps for some aspects). But agree with those who say spreadsheets are not a solution suitable for everyone.

jonnygee2

I think the principle I would advocate is - save in places where the interest is best, don't create new accounts or move money around accounts to save for specfic items, which will likely lead to less interest. Instead, use something separate to track what is supposed to be for where.

You could use a spreadsheet, software like YNAB, or a piece of lined paper and a pencil all to pretty much the same effect - whatever you feel most comfortable with.

dgerrard

Thank you all so much for your responses!
In the end, I've just taken out an ISA, set up various direct debits for the amounts I want to put towards each item per month, and am tracking on a spreadsheet.  It still seems really low-tech to do it this way, but at least I can see the figures going up the way I want them to.  Just surprised I can't do it all in one place.  I'd love to be able to have a savings account where I can say:  each month assign +200 to Dishwasher, +400 to Car, +400 to Vacation, +400 to Mortgage Overpay, and put the rest in General Savings, and pinching from General Savings if I've overspent in that month and need to top up one of the other pots.
Thank you all for your great help!

MovingForwards

@dgerrard the virgin linked savings account to the current account does what you want, which is why I suggested it.
You have your savings account and within that set up pots for various things you are saving for. You don't have to allocate all the money and can leave it sitting in the account. If you want to borrow from one pot you can.