We were able to get our emergency savings back up to $1000.
We also started using a “partitioned” savings account to set money aside for
the bigger one-time items that occur. The online account has a reserved list
that allow us to set up a reserve item such as “tires” and then fund that item
which partitions the money out of the general pot. In the past I was allocating
funds in our savings towards various items in an excel spreadsheet but so far
the online version has been a lot better, somehow I feel more accountable to
the reserve list plus it’s a lot easier to manage.
We’ve also started funding certain monthly expenses in
advance to reduce the fees associated with them or to take advantage of great
bargains as they are available (like diapers).
For instance, our car insurance has a reduced monthly cost if six months
are paid at a time. At first we had to pay each month because we couldn’t
afford the full six month payment but slowly over the year we’ve been able to
transition to paying the full six months at a time. Now we put the reduced
monthly expense amount in the partitioned account each month so it is ready and
waiting when the six month payment is due.
Savings Goals
Maintain 1k emergency fund
Increase use of portioned account to fund upcoming one-time
expenses out of budget and with any extra money earned.
Re-asses savings quarterly. Don’t want too much money
sitting in savings that should be going towards debt.
No comments:
Post a Comment