Anyone operate a 'piggy banking' approach to budgeting?

[Ceolas]

I am seriously trying to get on top of things and reduce our spending while off on mat leave.

I'm thinking about expenses like car tax, MOT, birthdays, etc which are variable amounts but need accounted for each month.

No good leaving the money in the current account because it'd just get spent!

I read somewhere about having different accounts for different purposes.

Does anyone actually do this and does it work well in practice? Would there be a limit on the number of accounts one could hold?

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Nationwide have an online account where you can do exactly what you are suggesting. Charliecat recommended it to me, but I haven't worked out exactly how to seperate it into the different parts yet.

That is a scarily long thread!

Started trying to read it late one Saturday night...

Ok will look it up again

we've just started doing that - well we have a 'spend' account, and a bills account- the bills acocunt also has our xmas money, car tax etc in i'm really sad and have done a spread sheet for it so I know what's in there waht's out what's accounted for etc and how much we actually have in there we could spent if needed seems to work for us like that anyhow- it's just an excel sheet.

There is a new one with all the tips in the op

There is a new one with all the tips in the op

(ooh and mum has the cash card so even if I wanted to use the money I couldn't easily cos she'd want to know what the money's for - she's under strict instructions! lol)

I have done the spreadsheet.

Christmas is taken care of in a Cahoot savings account.

So you really don't touch the surplus in the bills account? not sure we're that good!

DP and I have one account for bills/food. We pay in what is needed to cover life's essentials such as the childcare, weekly shop, the mortgage and the utilities. We review this every so often and top up as the cost of living goes up.

All the things you state (car tax, MOT etc) come out of our joint account (except birthdays). Although the costs do vary a bit month by month, in practice it averages out pretty much the same each month. Sometimes we are in credit but I know that's because the car tax is coming up or something.

Then we have personal accounts where we keep all the remainder of our pay. This is for non-essentials and is our personal spending money.

Finally we each have savings accounts (separate and joint).

Works very well for us - and it means that no matter how extravagent one of us is, there is always money in the joint account for the essentials.

can you try and use cash for as much as possible?

when we're seriously skint we operate a cash in envelopes system that works for us!

nope - but to be fair at the minute ther'es £1.80 odd spare, honestly the main reason for not spending anything out of there is cos when we move (prob in 6-9 months) DH has promised me a new bed (ours won't last another move) and I want a new washer, so if I save up hard for it then I can have the one I really want - - i'm so sad! lol.

can anyone direct me to the nationwide info I can find their site but not the account. What's it called?

Charliecat says it's the Nationwide Flexaccount.

thanks

Once you have the flexaccount you open an esavings accout through the web site and can move money in and out online. It pays 5.something interest too, so better than the envelope approach!

I have an Ingdirect savings account. Once you've set it up you can have any number of separate accounts so you can keep money separate but for interest purposes they add them all together. You can transfer money electronically between your main current account (with any bank) and Ing.