Here’s How I Roll

I have found the following to be a good “technique” for putting money away during the month:

First, I create a (saving/extra debt payment) goal. For this month it was approx. 2300 dollars from income. Then, I deposit our paychecks into our local bank. Approx. 5000 dollars. So, I have 5K to work with throughout the month. I IMMEDIATELY send 1000 or so to ING, because I know that I will not “need” that money for expenses during the month. Then, I take out my envelope monies for the month, leaving a balance of say, 3000 in the checking account and I put 200 of that into my “wife’s” checking account. (She has a checking account with a small amount for pharmacy/grocery/kid stuff/gas/emergency stuff. We keep about 300 bucks in it.) After transferring the 200, I now have 2800 for bills and stuff. I want to put about 1300 of this (or more) into my ING account, but I don’t want to do it all at once. Why? Because I might need some of this money throughout the month for unexpected expenses. BUT, I don’t want to wait until the VERY end of the money to send the 1300. Why? Because I lose interest! (I know, I know, I could get an interest bearing checking account, but I like my local bank…) So, I send a little, along and along, guaranteeing that I have ENOUGH for the rest of the month, AND I make some interest on my transfers. Got it? (Imagine that the checking account is a glass full of water, and the saving account is an empty glass of water. I “pour” a bit of the cash from the checking account, every day or two, into the savings account. This way, I still have convenient access to my money, and I can chose NOT to transfer any amount of money at anytime. I like my system…)