I need to set up separate savings pots but confused by all the different savings accounts. Any advice please?

[Trickymoments]

I'm finally getting round to sorting out our finances and as we will soon no longer have childcare vouchers we will be able to save a bit each month.

I've worked out that I'd like to set up separate 'pots' for the following areas. School activities/trips, hobbies & clubs for dc's
Annual holiday
Car maintenance
Household stuff and emergencies ie washing machine breaks
Chrstimas & dc's birthdays

I'd like to set up separate savings accounts for these away from my current account which is with Barclays and make regular payments into them each month. I would like to be able to access them & transfer money online.

I'd also like to set up one savings account for long term savings where we will not need easy access to the money or regular withdrawals.

I've read Martin Lewis's website on savings options but I'm so confused. What sort of accounts should I be looking at for the individual categories and the longer term savings? I haven't been in a position to save before and feel that by splitting things up,this way we can be sure we have budgeted for everything and then whatever's left we have to spend each month.

Any advice please?

[lougle]

Can I suggest you look at YNAB? It's £34 per year, but you get a 34 day free trial.

You would get to keep your single account, but then using YNAB you budget into as many categories as you want to. So your balance may be £100, but you would know that it was really £50 for groceries, £10 for ballet, £15 for school lunches, £10 for birthday presents, £5 for stamps and envelopes and £10 for petrol.

It really is amazing and you can make as many categories as you like, so you are in total control of your money. It even has a mobile app so you can enter your purchases as you are out and about.

[Silvertap]

I'm a massive fan of ynab too. It's revolutionised my spending.

[PlatoTheGreat]

Oh if you use that site, does it mean I could still use my CC for usual payments and the system will know about it (and put stuff in the right category)?
We've been using g CC(all paid fully at the end if the month!) as a budget tool + I dont want to use anything else in the Internet.

[incywinci]

I've got 3 savings accounts under Barclays, one is DS's. So it's all under my main account, but they are seperate. Call Barclays up, they should be able to help you

[lougle]

Plato you'd have to enter the transactions manually. They do have auto-import now, but mostly only for USA banks.

[PlatoTheGreat]

Thanks louge I was hoping they would auto import everything.....
Now can I find the courage to enter all that (2 different CC, 1 bank account)?

Tricky I used to have a similar arrangement (with Barclays too) and had different savings account for different things and found it helped a lot re budgeting.
The problem of course is that, then, the interest rates are rubbish so you really don't want alot of money on there.

What we have done now is to ensure we have about 3~4 months worth savings in an ISA (we looked for the one with the best interest rates), cash ISA so access is immediate and with no 'retainers' etc...
We ensure that we have a set amount of money going into my pension (DGH has a work one so taken directly from his wage)
Then any other savings is going into paying the mortgage first rather than a saving account (interest for the saving account will be lower than the interest rate of the mortgage).
When we will have paid the mortgage then we will look at savings iyswim.

If we do need some money for holidays etc.., then we are taking that money from the ISA (never below the 3 months or whatever your limit is) no rebuild the ISA up to our 'max' level over which t goes onto the mortgage. Does all that make sense???

[Homemama]

I really don't understand the concept of ynab at all. I just can't get my head around it. All it seems to do is tell you what you have left after bills but that seems obvious. I guess I must be missing something. Our mortgage goes out 2 days before DH is paid but obviously we know we don't have that to spend. I do need to economise somewhat so if this would help id love to know what I'm missing.

[lougle]

Homemama, YNAB allows you to micromanage your money from within a single account (or lots of accounts if you choose, but there is no need for them).

Let's say you have £2000 wages and a £1000 mortgage, with £600 bills. You are completely right that a quick sum tells us you have £400 for all other spending for the month. You might know that you are going out next Friday and it will cost you £30. If you worry about overspending, you might choose to put £30 in an envelope on a shelf now, while you still have £400, rather than waiting until next Friday when you may have spent it all.

Similarly, you may know that you need fuel, £25, but you know it won't last all month. You could pop £50 in an envelope on the shelf with 'Fuel' written on it, so you definitely have the money when you need it.

That's what YNAB does. Each slot in YNAB is a different category. You start with your £2000 and your budget may look like this:

Mortgage: £1000 (£1000 remaining)
Bills (each bill having its own line): £600 total (£400 remaining)
Petrol: £100 (£300 remaining)
Food: £200 (£100 remaining)
Clothes: £40 (£60 remaining)
Savings: £20 (£40 remaining)
Social: £40 (£0 remaining)

You've budgeted (not spent) every penny. You know where it is going. So if you spend £60 on your night out, YNAB's 'Available to Budget' will go from £0 (good, you've given every £1 a job) to - £20 (bad, you've overspent). To rectify that, you'd have to reallocate some money from elsewhere. So you might decide to take the savings down to £0 to free up the £20 to cover your overspend.

In this way, YNAB makes you totally aware of the consequences of your spending decisions. You start to begrudge allocating money to categories that are wasteful and it changes your spending habits.

[PlatoTheGreat]

How long does it take to input everything thoug??

[Toffeelatteplease]

Excel on your computer or phone will do the same thing. Phone app is free

[lougle]

It doesn't take long.

Toffee you're right. It is essentially a spreadsheet and in fact it started out as one before it was commercialised. But it's quite sophisticated now.

[specialsubject]

you are wasting your time with 'standard' savings accounts unless they are regular savers; remember that the actual interest rate on a regular saver is half what they quote.

no standard savings account pays above inflation. You need the interest-paying current accounts. They have instant access.

cash ISAs also a waste of time.

savers are dirt and have been for years. And it will only get worse.

[shortaris1]

As special said, the Interest paying current accounts are currently the best for your longer term savings. I have a TSB one which pays 5% on up to 2k. You need to move £500 through it each month but you can set up standing orders to move it in one day and out the next. Look at MSE under the 'Better than Isa's' or 'Best interest paying accounts ' section.

I use Budget Brain spreadsheets to manage the rest of my money but YNAB is always recommended.

[lilacclery]

3 months free ynab

Ynab has definitely helped me with my finances.
It doesn't take long to enter your details depending on whether you want to start from today or put in historical data. I think it's great because you can set goals of a target date/amount per category and when you move money from one category to another it's clear how it's impacting your goals like the example iougle mentioned.

I'm 100% committed to it since mid april and have already cleared almost €1k from my debt, been on holiday without incurring more debt and feel in control of my spending.