does anyone have separate accounts for different bills/savings?

[booyhoo]

i have gotten myself into debt over the past 3 years. (about £4k) it has come around due to a complete change in the way i was managing my money. at the minute i have just been using my card for everything until the money runs out and i have now found myself in a position where for the first time ever i haven't got enough money left to pay rent. thankfully i have saved money weekly into my dcs' savings accounts and i can borrow from it to pay it this month and pay it back when i can afford to.

so i have sat down and worked out a budget for everything i spend and i think for me i will find it alot easier if i can set up S/Os into a different account for separate things rather than using one account for all bills and spending. the thing is, having worked out all the different types of spending, it seems i would need a current account (for all money coming into) and then 13 other accounts. (6 of those will be savings accounts once my debts are cleared). is this workable? does anybody else manage their money like this?

I have 3 separate accounts. One is just for bills (we make sure there is enough in this account before we do anything else), one is for savings (and is with a different bank that we have to go to the counter to access so we are not tempted to dip into it) and one has a small budget weekly paid into for living expenses and even this is strictly divided up (£40 for groceries, £20 for kids stuff (clothes etc) £20 for my non essential spending and £40 for my husbands (he works 12 hour shifts 6 days a week so this includes a hot meal each day for him - he gets heavily subsidised food)

We pay for absoulutely everything with cash and withdraw our spending budget once a week so we can see when the money gets low - it helps to stop overspending

I know how you feel tho we were in your position this time last year thats why we are so strict now xx

withdrawing the money in cash sounds like it could work for a few of my budgets, like food shopping, petrol etc but i worry that i wont have enough left for the annual stuff like car insurance, tv licensing, tax bill etc which is why i think if i save weekly/monthly into the account i know i will have the right amount at the end of the year. it sounds very broken down and i know 13 accounts seems like an insane amount but i have woked out my budgets and been through it several times to see how it will work best for me. otherwise i dont think i will meet any of my financial goals.

Joint current a/c with DH for mortgage and bills etc.
Holiday a/c
"DC Things" a/c for things like shoes, birthday and Christmas presents, pushchair when it broke.
House a/c - for stuff like broken down washing machine, new microwave

do whatever works for you. If 13 accounts work then go for it, its better to be that disciplined than to have one account and have no idea what is going on xx

I agree that if you need 13 accounts you need 13 accounts. I personally have 4 accounts with my bank and use online banking. The online banking for my bank allows you to "name" accounts. That way I don't get confuddled when transferring money, etc.

I have a sole account which is the only one with a card on it.

Joint account which all bills go out of which we don't touch.

Savings A/c - Currently saving for house purchase, but also used for other emergencies if necessary

DS Savings account. No money goes in or out of there because he has a savings bond we contribute to every month and dd has a CTF which we contribute to monthly.

Hubby also has a sole account where his salary goes.

Both hubby and I have a monthly standing order that goes over to the joint account to pay the monthly and annual bills.

Every bill we pay when we live in UK (currently based overseas) is paid by ddm, regardless whether it is monthly or annually. Plus if it is annually I make calculate what it is monthly and add that to our liability.

You can get accounts where you can divide it up into e.g. Car, presents, holidays etc even though it's only one account. HBOS's websaver is one, but there are others possibly First Direct. I know banks have a limit on how many current accounts you can have open so you will probably not be able to open all 13 with one bank if that's what you still want to do.