For those that use separate funds for car and home repair...

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

I have a bit of a budgeting philosophy question. I had an unexpected car repair (two new tires) blow our budget a bit this month, and I know that's something I shouldn't have let happen. Our main financial goal right now is building our e-fund, but we also have accounts for travel, car repair, and home maintenance. I usually budget $25 a paycheck to each account (currently skipping travel) but find I always want to "borrow" that money for something else. With the home maintenance money, we often end up needing to do a small Home Depot run and using that money accordingly, so a balance never builds up in the account. With the car repair money, since both of our cars are in great shape I usually put it in the e-fund instead, since that feels more "rewarding" to me, or borrowing it if we need to do a medium-sized Home Depot run. We've overspent on activities this summer as well, which I definitely acknowledge as a contributing factor here.

My question for the group: for those of you working on a goal, whether savings, debt, or something else, do you keep loyally contributing the same amount to your sinking funds no matter what? I do find having the funds separate to be mentally helpful, because I feel very guilty when I have to pull from the e-fund, but not the others. I'm considering just setting the car and home deductions onto autodraft, but it will remove a lot of flexibility in our day-to-day budget. That may, however, be a good thing :-) I'll also have my car paid off soon, and will need to decide whether to channel that payment to a new car replacement fund, to build up our e-fund quickly, or to up my retirement.

AprilZ81 · September 2015

We have different account for vacation, savings, car repair & Insurance and retirement.

With the exception of retirement, we sometimes move money around for something we both agree on, even if it isn't MM.

For me, as long as your obligations are being met as long as you are saving money in general it doesn't matter what label is on the savings account. The important thing is if you need (or want) the money it is there for you.

hoffse · September 2015

We contribute the same amount regardless. I roll car stuff into our annual dues fund and usually budget $600/year (or $50/month) to cover whatever might pop up with the car. That will pay for a set of tires, and we don't have to buy those every year. We drive newer cars so we rarely have big repairs - just routine maintenance.

We also contribute a certain amount for annual charitable contributions to our dues fund. We consider those "dues" even though we aren't technically required to pay them. I also do a $600/year buffer for unbudgeted contributions because we tend to get roped into charity lunches that expect you to open your checkbook at the table. I've learned the hard way that it's just easier for us socially and financially to set aside some money for those things (and we get a good chunk of it back in taxes anyway). I hope to not need it, but sometimes we do - this year so far we've spent about $250 of it through last-minute fundraisers. We can't decline all of the events, because they are usually tied to our jobs/networking.

The result is that the account always has plenty in it for the things we really must pay for (like life insurance and taxes/tags), and if the car did have a huge repair that costs more than $600 we would have some funds that are technically discretionary to raid if needed.

We built up a critical mass in the account by using some tax refund money one year to get it started - and then the monthly contributions have managed to keep it going.

I've about decided that we need to set up a similar sinking fund for clothing and gifts next year. H and I have to maintain a professional wardrobe, which can get expensive. That's the thing that always blows up our budget. Gifts are also frustrating because I just forget to budget them into our misc. expenses. I just remembered I have to buy a birthday gift for my secretary next week, so now I'm trying to figure out where to cut out to make that happen.

brij2006 · September 2015

We contributed $125/month to each category the first 4 months, getting us to $500 in each sinking fund. If something needed to be spent at Home Depot, then we would budget it into that month. If it wasn't budgeted in and was a must have, then I would try to pull from a different category in the budget that month (usually entertainment or clothing). I hoard our car and home repair sinking funds. We have yet to touch the $500 that's in either account, because we just budget those expenses into that month.

Like August we knew my brakes needed replaced on my car, and likely the rotors as well. So we budgeted the highest possible amount that could cost. Fortunately we were able to turn my existing rotors to get some more life out of them. So we returned $130 worth of parts we didn't end up needing.

simplyelise · September 2015

We have a sinking fund for car replacement. We put $100 a month in this while doing debt payoff and we won't touch it unless we have to replace a vehicle. We only have $900 in it right now, so we'd have to use efund money too, but we don't expect to have to replace a vehicle for a couple years at least.

We don't own a home, so we only budget for home maintenance when we have something we need (stock up on dehumidifyer filters or something).

This summer, we knew that I was going to be needing some maintenance done on my car when I got over 90k miles. We estimated that cost and started putting money in that fund back in June. Unfortunately we ended up having $1100 in unexpected repairs needed on DHs vehicle first and also underestimated on my car's work. So we tapped out that sinking fund pretty quickly. But we don't regularly put money in a car repair sinking fund, only when we know something is coming up.

We never borrow from sinking funds for other purposes and we cash flow normal small things. For instance, I don't see the point of putting money in a sinking fund for oil changes, because it's so easy to cash flow that in the month it occurs. I think I'd do the same for a house maintenance sinking fund...only put money in there for planned repairs you know you'll have to make soon or big purchases you want to save up for over time. If a true emergency happens with your home, you have your efund. And if something small happens, you can cashflow it.

As far as removing flexibility from your day to day budget, I don't think that's a bad thing if you are working on reaching a specific goal. DH and I are 11 months away from being debt free, so we have almost zero flexibility in our budget after we set it for the month. There is no slush fund, only our $60/each for fun money.

But after we get debt free, we will loosen things up a little. Maybe add in a little extra for going out to eat (currently $50/month total). But we will probably still keep things tighter until we get 6 months of expenses built up. Then we will maybe loosen things up if we feel constricted while we are saving a 20% down payment.

I think you guys may be having this issue because you don't have a clear endpoint in mind. Is there a specific number you want to hit in the efund? I would probably just ignore putting money in other funds (other than for costs you KNOW are coming up) until you reach that goal. Then your efund is funded and you can start figuring out your other goals. Also, maybe devise a definition of what constitutes an emergency for you guys and don't touch the efund outside of that definition.

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

Thanks for all of your thoughts everyone! Sounds like there are a number of ways to approach this stuff. I like the idea of using some "seed" money to get the funds started so they aren't so meager.

@simplyelise we are $2,500 away from our e-fund "endpoint." At that point we will have enough in there to cover all of our deductibles at once and will switch to smaller contributions until we hit six months of expenses. In general, I'd love the e-fund to be for only life-and-death emergencies or job loss. I think having that viewpoint, however, requires having other sinking funds available for things like tires that could be cash-flowed some months, but not in a month where I was already planning to cash flow vacation and a couple of weddings that require hotel stays.

I think I was tempted to skimp on car maintenance contributions since, like @hoffse mentioned, we both have newer cars and mine, the older of the two, had brakes and tires done just a couple of years ago. What happened with my tire was such a freak thing-it had a "bubble," and the tire shop wouldn't repair a slow leak that it also had because the bubble was considered such a safety hazard. It made financial sense at that point to get two tires, at least putting my front and rear tires on different schedules (though I know not everyone would have made that call).

I think another thing that gets us with the car repairs, when they do crop up, is that we both have no car knowledge and no close friends in the area that have any to share. I wish there were an online course or something I could take to learn more about cars in general and hopefully get better deals when we need work done. I feel like we frequently pay more than we should.

dragonstarjk · September 2015

We don't have a car maint. fund because we just try to cash flow those things, or, if something unexpected and large comes up (like your new tires) I would pull from our other savings to cover it. I never pull from the e-fund because I do consider it life-and-death only, but I will pull from any of the others.

I do have an auto-deposit of $50 every paycheck that goes into each of our savings accounts--shopping/gift, home improvements, and vacation. I try to be loyal to each category and never pull from each other unless I have to. Having the deposit done automatically is a huge help and keeps me from using the funds for something else.

brij2006 · September 2015

Since you're so close to your goal of fully funding the emergency fund, this is what I would do.

Cut as much from the budget as possible. Then take say, $300 for each fund and put it aside. So $600 total. Fund those "unexpected" funds in one lump sum. Then throw the rest toward the e-fund.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having an additional "slightly less emergency" fund going. Where you put things that you may need to pull from.

However, my view on the efund is absolute, dire need, emergencies only. So like a job loss, time off work that was unexpected, a death in the family you have to fly to services for, etc. Home Depot runs do not come out of our efund, but we plan and budget for every single thing. If it wasn't in the budget and it's absolutely needed, then we move things around to make it work. But if that can't happen for house stuff or car things, then we move it to the next month and make sure we budget that in.

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

brij2006 said:

Since you're so close to your goal of fully funding the emergency fund, this is what I would do.

Cut as much from the budget as possible. Then take say, $300 for each fund and put it aside. So $600 total. Fund those "unexpected" funds in one lump sum. Then throw the rest toward the e-fund.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having an additional "slightly less emergency" fund going. Where you put things that you may need to pull from.

However, my view on the efund is absolute, dire need, emergencies only. So like a job loss, time off work that was unexpected, a death in the family you have to fly to services for, etc. Home Depot runs do not come out of our efund, but we plan and budget for every single thing. If it wasn't in the budget and it's absolutely needed, then we move things around to make it work. But if that can't happen for house stuff or car things, then we move it to the next month and make sure we budget that in.

I really like this idea. $300 each and then it's done and we focus on the e-fund. We get our first September paychecks next week and should be able to take care of it then. Thanks!

The Home Depot runs definitely get us (though we don't ever e-fund those either). We try to budget for every single thing. H and I have gotten good at doing the budget together, but the issue we still have is that he handles most of our home maintenance and is a last-minute guy, always has and always will be. I've been trying to leave a buffer for times when he realizes we need an air filter or mulch or something after we've already allocated all of our money except gas and fun budget.

hoffse · September 2015

I think my philosophy on it - especially now that we have a house - is to throw everything into the sinking fund we can think of that pops up once or twice a year, regardless of the cost. Even if it's $30, it goes into the sinking fund. If we end the year with a huge surplus because we don't need the car buffer or the charitable contribution buffer that year, well awesome. It can either roll over or we can use it for something else.

This past year we've been very focused on limiting our cash flow so that we can save for home remodeling and traveling. That won't be a huge priority for everybody, but it is for us... and while we could cash flow tires if we had to, I would rather roll that cost into an annual sinking fund so we don't have to worry about it and focus our larger savings funds toward one of our other two goals.

One thing about home remodeling and vacations is that once you've committed to it... you're kind of committed once you are past a certain point. Once the kitchen was torn apart, we needed to be able to put it back together again. Once you board the airplane you need to be able to feed and house yourself while you are gone and handle unexpected things like illness or travel delays. On our trip to France we were over $300 in the hole before we even arrived because of a flight delay that required us to buy walk-up train tickets to our final destination. When your house is under construction or you're out of the country.... this is really not the time when you want to be worrying about a tight month from a cash-flow perspective.

We try not to financially commit to major expenses until we're pretty confident we can finish paying for them, but they still make an unexpected $300 or $500 expense very difficult to cash flow when it otherwise wouldn't be. After having a few of those happen this year, one of my goals for next year is to be better about anticipating those things. We did brakes and a full set of tires for me this year and depleted our car buffer (and a bit more) as a result. We are really unlikely to need those for either car next year, but I'm going to budget for them as though we will have to just in case.

I would much rather end the year with a great surplus than be stressed about finding the money when we need it.

formerlyGDaisy09 · September 2015

we have separate accounts for House, cars, vacations, computer/electronics, e-fund, and savings.

Some accounts I have a set amount that is contributed each month, others it's just a percentage of what's left at the end of the month.

I put $75/month into the car fund.

savings gets $150 earmarked for propane, $50 for water/sewer, and $80 for my SL that's paid quarterly,

from what's left our current percentages are:

20% house

10% car

20% vacation

5% electronics

15% savings

30% e-fund

I adjust the percentages as our priorities change. we do not borrow from accounts for things that aren't applicable to that account...if it's not in the monthly budget, or in the account we postpone the purchase. for something unexpected like a tire blow-out I would borrow from the e-fund...but that 10% that I was sending to the car fund would then go to the e-fund until that money was replenished.

als1982 · September 2015

We live way, way below our means and because of this choose to cash flow home and car repairs. We'd personally rather put as much as possible toward debt principle in order to decrease interest costs, instead of keeping money in a low or no interest earning account.

simplyelise · September 2015

Yeah this is for sure a philosophy question, so I find it interesting reading others' approaches. Definitely no wrong ways, just different priorities.

For us, our minimum student loan payment is about $500/month*. But we put around $2500 every month towards that. It's better for us in the long term to not put money in sinking funds and pay debt off sooner (saving interest and enjoying momentum). Cashflowing the upcoming $600ish on my car in a few weeks made more sense in our situation and with our priorities because I'd rather pay that $600 this month than back in January, etc when we used it for debt instead.

But when we're done with debt, I think we'll use my 3 paycheck months to set up more helpful sinking funds like others have described here. Like @hoffse said, if you don't use the car repair money, it just rolls over, so no sweat. And I really like the idea of using "extra" money like tax returns or 3rd paychecks to quickly get those funded.

*also I think because we never changed the repayment plan, we're actually just prepaid out like 2 years or something lol. So we would actually have $2500 in a month to cashflow something.

brij2006 · September 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

brij2006 said:

Since you're so close to your goal of fully funding the emergency fund, this is what I would do.

Cut as much from the budget as possible. Then take say, $300 for each fund and put it aside. So $600 total. Fund those "unexpected" funds in one lump sum. Then throw the rest toward the e-fund.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having an additional "slightly less emergency" fund going. Where you put things that you may need to pull from.

However, my view on the efund is absolute, dire need, emergencies only. So like a job loss, time off work that was unexpected, a death in the family you have to fly to services for, etc. Home Depot runs do not come out of our efund, but we plan and budget for every single thing. If it wasn't in the budget and it's absolutely needed, then we move things around to make it work. But if that can't happen for house stuff or car things, then we move it to the next month and make sure we budget that in.

I really like this idea. $300 each and then it's done and we focus on the e-fund. We get our first September paychecks next week and should be able to take care of it then. Thanks!

The Home Depot runs definitely get us (though we don't ever e-fund those either). We try to budget for every single thing. H and I have gotten good at doing the budget together, but the issue we still have is that he handles most of our home maintenance and is a last-minute guy, always has and always will be. I've been trying to leave a buffer for times when he realizes we need an air filter or mulch or something after we've already allocated all of our money except gas and fun budget.

Sounds familiar. :-) In this case, we budget more than absolutely needed for any planned projects. So August my H was planning on putting new brakes on my car, and a new EGR valve for his. He looked up how much everything was, and told me it would be $250 total. We budgeted $325 just in case. Well, while taking off the EGR valve, he broke a different part and needed a tool to fix it. $26 tool later, and his repair was done. But it wasn't budgeted and would have thrown things off. So I've learned to budget waaaaay more than expected. If we don't use it, then I toss it into savings to pad that some more.

short+sassy · September 2015

als1982 said:

We live way, way below our means and because of this choose to cash flow home and car repairs. We'd personally rather put as much as possible toward debt principle in order to decrease interest costs, instead of keeping money in a low or no interest earning account.

This is what I do also. It's not the best strategy for everyone, but it works for me. My primary goal is to pay off my HELOC, so I throw pretty much all my excess funds on that. Though I do keep a general $1,000 e-fund. If something comes up, I throw less excess funds at that debt. If something big comes up, I use the HELOC knowing I will "pay myself back" within a short time.

brij2006 · September 2015

One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.

So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.

hoffse · September 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

brij2006 said:

Since you're so close to your goal of fully funding the emergency fund, this is what I would do.

Cut as much from the budget as possible. Then take say, $300 for each fund and put it aside. So $600 total. Fund those "unexpected" funds in one lump sum. Then throw the rest toward the e-fund.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having an additional "slightly less emergency" fund going. Where you put things that you may need to pull from.

However, my view on the efund is absolute, dire need, emergencies only. So like a job loss, time off work that was unexpected, a death in the family you have to fly to services for, etc. Home Depot runs do not come out of our efund, but we plan and budget for every single thing. If it wasn't in the budget and it's absolutely needed, then we move things around to make it work. But if that can't happen for house stuff or car things, then we move it to the next month and make sure we budget that in.

I really like this idea. $300 each and then it's done and we focus on the e-fund. We get our first September paychecks next week and should be able to take care of it then. Thanks!

The Home Depot runs definitely get us (though we don't ever e-fund those either). We try to budget for every single thing. H and I have gotten good at doing the budget together, but the issue we still have is that he handles most of our home maintenance and is a last-minute guy, always has and always will be. I've been trying to leave a buffer for times when he realizes we need an air filter or mulch or something after we've already allocated all of our money except gas and fun budget.

I'll be honest, I'm really bad at budgeting for every little thing. I've tried, H has tried, and we can never seem to remember everything. Even if we could, there are always the things that pop up. When a partner asks one of us to go to lunch, we have to say yes unless we have a legitimate excuse (bringing our own lunch is not one). When partners email us directly asking us to buy a $25 ticket to an event 2 days from now, we really have to say yes unless we have other plans that night. Pleading the budget isn't going to fly in that case.

I would also like to be in a position to take advantage of good deals. That's why buying clothes always blows up our budget. When Brooks Brothers outlet is having a 70% off sale, we take advantage of it and might drop a few hundred bucks at once. I literally can't remember a time we've shopped at BB and spent less than $300, and there have been a couple times when we spent way more than that getting H suited up for his job. Buying during their huge sales saves us a TON of money over the course of the year, but we rarely have much notice. There isn't a great way to budget for that at the last minute, and if you move it to the next month then the sale is usually done. At the end of the year I plan to go through all of our CC statements and add up how much we spent on clothing, throw in a couple hundred bucks extra, divide by 12 and start a sinking fund for this. It should help tremendously.

For us, budgeting generously for the unknowns is very helpful. You might want to go back through a couple months of bills and see if you can find places where you spent more than you planned. If there is a recurring theme, then that might be one of your black holes of money where you need to pad a little extra.

brij2006 · September 2015

I'm trying to quote hoffse, but it isn't letting me. Darn Nest!

For the larger clothing expenditures, we do budget a bit more each month for clothing. Any part of that we don't use, we usually roll over to the next month or pull out in cash and toss in an envelope. Then if we do go out and spend $300 on clothes, the money is there and it doesn't blow our entire budget for the month. However, if we know it's something that is coming (like us needing stuff for an event, or if I stock up on clearance items for DD for next year), we will budget in some more. Usually we plan for $100/month. This month I knew I was going to take some time to clearance shop for DD for summer next year. So we budgeted $200.

So really, it's just whether you would rather put aside each month for things or work a few things into each months' budget. We personally like small goals. So it helps us to know that we can spend the $1,500 on Nashville this month and it won't affect any sinking funds for future travel.

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

brij2006 said:
One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.
So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.

I will definitely admit that sticking to one goal at a time is something I struggle with, both financially and in general. There's just so much I want to work on that I get antsy. I recognize that one thing at a time is much more efficient. The good news about our e-fund goal is that it is so doable that we should be able to knock it out before losing focus and working on something else instead.

Sisugal · September 2015

We have different accounts (at different banks) for
house related expenses (not the minor routine stuff) - but renovations, furniture, taxes kinds of things that are larger items. I would suggest you add a general household maintenance line to your monthly budget for the small stuff.

Car fund is for vehicle replacement ---a line item in the monthly budget pays for gas, routine maintenance, registration, plates.

Vacation has a fund of it's own - and vacations are totally funded from it.

brij2006 · September 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.
So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.
I will definitely admit that sticking to one goal at a time is something I struggle with, both financially and in general. There's just so much I want to work on that I get antsy. I recognize that one thing at a time is much more efficient. The good news about our e-fund goal is that it is so doable that we should be able to knock it out before losing focus and working on something else instead.

That's exactly why we had to do the 1 thing at a time, thing. If it were up to us we would be saving for newer vehicles, a winter vacation, new carpet, AND a new kitchen. But none of those would come within a timely manner, so we would lose motivation and pay for the "now" instead. This really helps us to prioritize, because there's only so much $$ in a month.

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

brij2006 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

brij2006 said:
One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.
So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.
I will definitely admit that sticking to one goal at a time is something I struggle with, both financially and in general. There's just so much I want to work on that I get antsy. I recognize that one thing at a time is much more efficient. The good news about our e-fund goal is that it is so doable that we should be able to knock it out before losing focus and working on something else instead.

That's exactly why we had to do the 1 thing at a time, thing. If it were up to us we would be saving for newer vehicles, a winter vacation, new carpet, AND a new kitchen. But none of those would come within a timely manner, so we would lose motivation and pay for the "now" instead. This really helps us to prioritize, because there's only so much $$ in a month.

I think that's exactly what has happened with us lately! Time for a refocusing conversation with H tonight.

vlagrl29 · September 2015

for us we have 1 e fund account that we put everything in - medical bills, unexpected house/car repairs, etc. If DH were hurt and couldn't work we have a disability policy on him that would pay out and because he is self employed we don't have to worry about lay offs etc. I don't like keeping track of too many savings accounts.

brij2006 · September 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.
So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.
I will definitely admit that sticking to one goal at a time is something I struggle with, both financially and in general. There's just so much I want to work on that I get antsy. I recognize that one thing at a time is much more efficient. The good news about our e-fund goal is that it is so doable that we should be able to knock it out before losing focus and working on something else instead.

That's exactly why we had to do the 1 thing at a time, thing. If it were up to us we would be saving for newer vehicles, a winter vacation, new carpet, AND a new kitchen. But none of those would come within a timely manner, so we would lose motivation and pay for the "now" instead. This really helps us to prioritize, because there's only so much $$ in a month.
I think that's exactly what has happened with us lately! Time for a refocusing conversation with H tonight.

What helps us is that we keep a running list of things we want to do or buy. If it's a month where the budget is going to have some wiggle room, then we try to put an item in from our list. So this month will have some wiggle room, and on our list is to buy storage items for the yard shed and build a cabinet to mount the microwave under in the kitchen. Hence the $1,000 house money budgeted in. We may not spend it all this month, but they're items on our list that we can work into this months' budget.

There's anywhere from a new kitchen, to an iPad, to a larger deep freezer, a weekend away to see family, and new bathroom rugs. The little things may seem like things I could just grab while out, but they do add up. $30-50 here and there can quickly add up to $200. So we are constantly adding to the list, and seeing if there's some wiggle room in that months' budget to buy/do something on the list. Once it's done/bought, we cross it off the list. But if something comes up during that month that we NEED to do (unexpected car repair), then that item is the first to not happen and it remains on the list.

Xstatic3333 · September 2015

brij2006 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

brij2006 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

brij2006 said:
One thing that may help a bit...

Mostly from doing Dave Ramseys' TMM, we have learned to prioritize what item we're working toward. So instead of saving small amounts toward 10 different things, we focus on 1 item and move full throttle toward that specific thing.

For instance, August we had a $2,000 vacation, $700 lawyer bill for doing our will, $140 in chiropractor bills, and $325 in larger car repairs. So we didn't put money aside all year long to be able to pay for these items or have a bunch of sinking funds to do them. Instead we knew these were the things we needed to focus on for the month of August, and we tweaked other areas of our budget to make them fit. Rather than robbing from the emergency fund to pay for the chiro bill or car repair, then needing to turn around and bust our butt to rebuild it.
We will do the same thing when it comes to replacing a car as well. H's car is a 2005 and worth about $7500. He drives 30,000 miles/year too and from work. So we know his will need replaced every 1.5-2 years. When that time starts to come up, we will begin putting all of our excess money toward that goal. More than likely it will mean putting aside $2,500/month for 3 months to buy him a car in cash. So we do this instead of putting $450/month aside into "car fund" over the course of the next 1.5 years. It makes it so we are working toward 1 large goal at a time, rather than 10 smaller ones and not seeing any progress.
So like right now, we're going to Nashville at the end of the month to do our debt free scream on Dave Ramseys' radio show. We know it will cost us about $1,500 for the 4 day weekend. So our budget is set up to cash flow that this month. We also have about $1,000 in house projects we want to get completed before winter. So that is budgeted into this month as well, and we will put that money aside to use over the course of the next 3 months.

Either way you want to do it, works. But we've found this way to work best for us so we know exactly what it is we're working toward. Which is the same way we paid off the debt. Focus solely on the next debt in line, and put every penny toward it. If something comes up (like a larger car repair), you cash flow that expense and not put as much toward debt that month.
I will definitely admit that sticking to one goal at a time is something I struggle with, both financially and in general. There's just so much I want to work on that I get antsy. I recognize that one thing at a time is much more efficient. The good news about our e-fund goal is that it is so doable that we should be able to knock it out before losing focus and working on something else instead.

That's exactly why we had to do the 1 thing at a time, thing. If it were up to us we would be saving for newer vehicles, a winter vacation, new carpet, AND a new kitchen. But none of those would come within a timely manner, so we would lose motivation and pay for the "now" instead. This really helps us to prioritize, because there's only so much $$ in a month.
I think that's exactly what has happened with us lately! Time for a refocusing conversation with H tonight.

What helps us is that we keep a running list of things we want to do or buy. If it's a month where the budget is going to have some wiggle room, then we try to put an item in from our list. So this month will have some wiggle room, and on our list is to buy storage items for the yard shed and build a cabinet to mount the microwave under in the kitchen. Hence the $1,000 house money budgeted in. We may not spend it all this month, but they're items on our list that we can work into this months' budget.

There's anywhere from a new kitchen, to an iPad, to a larger deep freezer, a weekend away to see family, and new bathroom rugs. The little things may seem like things I could just grab while out, but they do add up. $30-50 here and there can quickly add up to $200. So we are constantly adding to the list, and seeing if there's some wiggle room in that months' budget to buy/do something on the list. Once it's done/bought, we cross it off the list. But if something comes up during that month that we NEED to do (unexpected car repair), then that item is the first to not happen and it remains on the list.

I think that would work really well for us. That way when things pop into H's head they can go on the list instead of causing an immediate budget scramble.

hoffse · September 2015

I do think that figuring out the cash flow aspect of multiple goals at once can be tough. I have a saving/spending spreadsheet that goes into early 2017 to help plan for all of the big things. Anything I know we want to do that's over $1,000 goes onto that spreadsheet, and I try to approximate when we will be spending that money based on things like season, other expenses happening at the same time, or natural timing considerations.

For instance, the cash flow of vacations can be really odd, because usually plane tickets bottom out around 6 months beforehand. The necessary vacation funds may not be fully in place when it's the best time to buy. So if I know we're going some place next July, I make sure to have money available for flights by November or December to start scouting airfare. It can get complicated though.

I like having multiple goals at once, but I think it requires looking at your overall savings rate and making sure that all the goals - combined - come well under that.

amhill87 · September 2015

I use 2 Savings accounts for everything, one is set up for an e fund and the other is regular savings which covers everything else. (Such as bills that come up annually or semi-annually).

dragonstarjk · September 2015

I do the same thing that @brij does; keep a running list of non-essential expenses that we'd like to spend money on if/when we have extra. There's all kinds of things on the list--from a new alarm clock, to a few sports bras, to a nice dresser, a weekend getaway somewhere warm this winter, etc. If there's a month when there's a little 'extra' in the budget, we'll cross something off the list. Or, for bigger items, such as the dresser, we try to save the 'extra' so we can purchase that item in a few months.

This comes after we fund all of our savings accounts, so we are not shorting our vacation/home improvement/general savings goals to purchase this 'extra' stuff.

For those that use separate funds for car and home repair...

Re: For those that use separate funds for car and home repair...

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