Do you divide your wages immediately? 20 April 2022 at 9:57AM edited 21 April 2022 at 9:14AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 35 replies 4.4K views

HeatherWillDo

Hi all,

I recently graduated and started a new job and I'm wondering how best to budget and organise my money every payday.

Right now, I am paid into my current account, put a little in a help to buy ISA and a little into another current account which I don't use regularly so it's building up. For expenses I just pay out of my primary current account.

I think it would be better to change the second current account I'm putting some savings into each month into some kind of savings account, but I'm unsure of my options - can anyone recommend something? (I bank with NatWest).

And for your expenses, do you just keep everything in your current account until it's time to pay bills/go shopping, or do you split it all into separate 'pots' right away?

Any advice/tips would be appreciated!

MaryNB

Your query is better suited to the Budgeting & Bank Accounts board. This board is for house buying, renting and selling.

Markneath

I have a separate account for food shopping and spending money(700pm). I pay this money into this account the first of the month like any other bills. I rarely spend all of it but its mine to enjoy if I want too, my main account is for bills and savings. 

I have a few standing orders set for various savings accounts etc, christmas, holidays, car, isas, crypto, pension they leave my main account mid month. 

ashe

My partner and I have a personal bank account each and a shared bills joint account and a savings account. 

each month we get paid into our personal accounts, we have a spreadsheet that takes our income and calculates a fair portion of bills which we list out in the sheet (used to be I paid a lot more but she is starting to advance now so it's fairly equal) and we transfer our share over to the joint bills amount which has a few thousand extra in for leeway or emergencies, and put a fixed amount into savings. Remaining money is our own to do whatever we want with 

Rambosmum

Accounts I have: 
- general account - I get paid in to this and the money left in it after dividing in to the pots below is frivolous spends - new clothes, meals out, take away coffee, cinema etc. This is a set amount each month of roughly 8% of pay but changes depending on what I can afford.

- bills account - on payday, I pay money in to this which covers all known bills (phone, mortgage, utilities, food shopping, Netflix, etc ALL bills except my car), at the end of the month it's close to empty however some bills i pay annually like house insurance, so it builds that each month.

- car savings account - I put a fixed amount each month away for car insurance, tax, not and maintenance. This builds up each month and annually I take out around half of what's left once it's all paid and put it in my long term savings. 

- savings account/ ISA - I put a smallish (5% of pay) set amount away on payday. This is for medium- long term accessible savings for emergencies e.g. serious car issues

- stocks and shares ISA - I put a small amount away on payday (2% of pay). This is very long term (10+ years) so only small ounts go in as it would be a real issue to take it out. 

- general savings account 1- this is my main savings for long term goals

- general savings account 2 - for holidays

- general savings account 3 - for Christmas

General savings account 1 is the biggest pot (unless we've just done an extension, like now!) And I move it around for the best deal. 

Yes, it's lots of accounts, but it's 3 different banks so only 3 apps and easy to check each one. I find lots of accounts easier than doing mental maths about what I need to keep back for whatever bills. 

I also use Plum for a bit of extra savings. I find it great and have saved £3500 in 2 years with it. 

Slinky

The new Chase savings account pays 1.5% and you can have up to 10 'pots' to save into.

Rambosmum

Slinky said:

The new Chase savings account pays 1.5% and you can have up to 10 'pots' to save into.

I wish these things had existed when I set up by bazillion savings accounts! 

MovingForwards

I have:

Main current account - wages in, direct debits out, food.

2nd current account - emergency fund (leaks etc).

3rd current account - car / home insurance, car repairs, breakdown cover, surplus towards replacement car etc.

Savings account - mortgage emergency fund.

Savings account - bills emergency fund.

Savings account x3 - home maintenance / upgrades.

Savings account - communal repairs.

ISA - float money.

Payday I feed my accounts and drip feed further money throughout the month. I have an annual spreadsheet which gets tweaked as things go up / down, same with all my savings spreadsheet.

Only my main current account doesn't pay interest.

Noneforit999

Everyone has different circumstances and income levels.

I earn 3-4x what my wife does so my wages cover the mortgage, bills, savings etc. She keeps back what she needs for the month (fuel, hair, nails etc) and then transfers what is left to our joint account.

We are fortunate that we tend not to worry each month as we have a decent amount of disposable income after putting money into savings etc.

We have two savings accounts, one which holds 3-6 months money in case either of us lost our job and the other we top up for other costs such as car repairs, house stuff etc. Recently needed 4 new tyres on one of the cars which meant £700 had to come out of it, something we would have struggled to do in a single month if we didn't have the savings.

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this thread to the Budgeting board

Ergates

HeatherWillDo said:

Hi all,

I recently graduated and started a new job and I'm wondering how best to budget and organise my money every payday.

Right now, I am paid into my current account, put a little in a help to buy ISA and a little into another current account which I don't use regularly so it's building up. For expenses I just pay out of my primary current account.

I think it would be better to change the second current account I'm putting some savings into each month into some kind of savings account, but I'm unsure of my options - can anyone recommend something? (I bank with NatWest).

And for your expenses, do you just keep everything in your current account until it's time to pay bills/go shopping, or do you split it all into separate 'pots' right away?

Any advice/tips would be appreciated!

If you've budgeted for savings, then it's best to do it as soon as you get paid - the longer it sits in your "main" account the more likely you are to spend it.