Money Matters
jenn3745
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How do you track your side savings?
Hi all! I don't think I've ever posted here but here we go!
I'm trying to get a better hang on our budget and savings. I've always budgeted weekly and time and time again it has proved to fail. We always end up having to borrow from savings to keep ourselves afloat until the next paycheck. We have some weeks where we have NO bills that come out and some weeks that EVERY bill comes out, elaving us with far less money than we need on a weekly basis at times. I've switched to monthly and so far it seems to be working and have much less overhead work on my part! Or, at least I think it will once I stop worrying that I'm doing it wrong and stop obsessing about it 
Now on to savings. I wanted to start putting a little cash aside each month for things we know will occur and want to plan ahead for. Thing is, I have a few issues I am still trying to figure out how to manage...
1) Actually tracking how much we've put aside for each item. For example, if I'm saving a set amt per month for our once per year HOA dues, a set amount per month for Christmas spending, and a set amount per month to have a baby, I don't know how to keep track of how much I've set aside for each if I use one set savings account. I read about a website called smartypig that allows you to do instant transfers to online accounts and I might use that, but I'm wondering if anyone else has any good ideas?
2) Actually having ENOUGH to do all these things. For example, we are putting aside a certain amount per month for emergency spending, but it leaves us with little extra to put aside for the baby we hope to have in about 10 months to a year. Or, saving for house projects, that HOA bill, etc... What to do? Do I lower that e fund amount to allow for other things? We do have a chunk in savings, I just want to start allocating better.
3) How do YOU set aside and track how much you have for things like house proejcts, decorating etc... Do you just use your regular spending money? Do you pick projects and save up for those specifically? Etc...
If anyone has any suggestions or insight I"m all ears! I could use spreadsheets etc but I'm so nervous with this big change in budget that I feel like I'm doing it all wrong!
Oh for the record, I use Mint.com, and I use a spreadsheat on the side to track what bills come out when since they don't have a future budgeting tool (way annoying)
Thanks!
Re: How do you track your side savings?
2. My strategy has been to prioritize our e-fund over other savings until we get to 6 months available. I do put away for expected expenses, such as HOA fees, car insurance, etc., but I'm not saving for things like vacations or a new car until that e-fund is in place. Once I'm happy with our emergence fund, I will start saving for other things, too.
3. For house projects, I put aside $X per month. If we want to do a big project, we save for a couple of months. I've found that house/decorating expenses add up quickly. Having a budgeted amount helps me prioritize. For something like a kitchen remodel, we'll probably save up a few hundred a month for a couple of years until we have enough to pay cash.
The other spreadsheet is our 'savings' spreadsheet. This tracks what's in our savings account and how much is allocate to HOA, insurance, vacation, house stuff, etc- really whatever we are saving for. At the end of every month (so today) I go get cash for the next month (we do the envelop system to keep our budget on track) and then I transfer money over to the savings account. We keep our checking at the same amount every month so we know how much we actually saved that month, and whether or not we are keeping on track with our goals.
It works for us. Hope that makes sense!
We also have one savings account (not including our IRAs and 401(k)s) and we use an Excel spreadsheet to track the individual pots of money that will go toward various things. Our e-fund is in this savings account, set at $x. Money in this account above the e-fund amount is going toward a Toyota Sienna minivan (used). I have some experience with Excel so I also use it to make line and bar graphs to visually see our progress. It's fun! Nerdy, but fun!
Also for savings, you can set up automatic transfers through your bank. On a day you choose, their system will move funds from your checking to savings. This way you do not have to remember to save. Another option is to have your employer do 2 direct deposits of your paycheck. A portion goes to checking and a set amount goes to savings. Not all employers will do this, so you have to ask.
As PPS said, definitely focus on your e-fund building up before other savings goals. Dave Ramsey does advise a $1k base. But, many posters here feel that at least 3 months savings is better. Personally, last month I had a car accident and medical bills (related to having a baby and a separate hospital stay) and just with the deductibles, I was over $1k.
My budgetting excel document has gotten way elaborate over the years, and it includes a tab for "accounts". They're not really separate accounts, but that's how I think of them. For example, we set aside money each month for gifts, and then don't end up spending the majority of it til December. So in my regular monthly budget tab, I'll deduct the amount for gifts like I do any other expense we have, and then add that amount to the accounts tab under the gifts column. I do this same thing for other expenses that we don't have monthly but we do save for throughout the year, as well as to save a certain amount towards a particular goal.
That's probably confusing as hell, sorry. Makes sense in my mind.