Halcyon Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 I don't want to get overly anal, but I am setting up sinking funds with ING Direct and was curious as to others' categories. Right now, I have Emergency Fund, Car Maintenance Fund and Christmas Fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Vacation and homeschool curriculum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 I like this. We were aiming for an Emergency Fund and a Car Maintenance Fund. We also wanted to start one of those "6 Months in Savings" funds, separate from the Emergency Fund. Know what can be fun to watch your savings grow? SmartyPig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Michelle* Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Emergency fund, car maintenance, home maintenance, our quarterly and annual bills (things like pest control, termite bond renewal, life insurance), and Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Home/appliance maintenance/repair/replacement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 We have an emergency plane trip fund which is different from the regular emergency fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 27, 2013 Author Share Posted March 27, 2013 As we are first time home owners, how do i determine how much certain things will cost? We just got a price estimate for tree pruning, maintenance and tree removal for our property of $2200; it will be less in future years as the prior owners hadn't done proper maintenance, and we wont have 4 trees to remove. But for things like appliances? I have no idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 We have an emergency fund, and a separate savings. Really just popping on to say that I keep misreading this thread title as "stinking funds!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I feel compelled to admit that I have never heard the term "sinking fund" before? As far as what to estimate for appliances, can you price what the cost would be if one died tomorrow and needed to be replaced? The hope being that they never all die at once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Many66 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I am a total money nerd (see Dave Ramsey) so I set up sinking funds for tons of things we need to do or are saving to pay. My sinking funds are: heating oil : ( I put 200 a month in every month so that we can cover our cold winters without worry) car/home/farm insurance : ( I put in 150 a month every month and pay it twice a year) Christmas fund : ( so I know the money is always there to have a cash Christmas for the kids) property/school taxes : ( I put money away monthly so we can pay it in full when the bill comes in June/July) large appliance fund : ( I keep 500 dollars in a fund for any re-placement of major appliances ( but we repair instead if cheaper and possible) car maintence fund : ( I keep 1,000 in here to do repairs on our vehicles and tractor ) My husband does almost all his own repair work so it saves us money. medical fund: I keep 300 dollars in a fund to pay any co-pays or prescription plan ( our insurance pays half of prescriptions) costs for doctors/dentist new to us car replacement fund ( I keep 2500 in here to replace any not worth fixing car with a cheap beater car so my husband always is assured of transportation for work) We always buy used and we run a car until it is dead, so this fund is usually only needed once every 5 or so years. home/farm maintence fund : I keep 2000 in here for any problems or upkeep that might incur on our farm or home farm fund ( I put 50 dollars per month in here so my husband can have money available for farm things he needs ( new baby chicks, seeds, tiller rental, wood to build more pens or fencing, ectera) homeschooling fund ( I put 1000 per year in here to buy homeschoolng supplies for my 4 children) pool pass fund ( I put money away monthly for our yearly summer pool pass) vacation fund ( I put money away monthly towards a low cost camping vacation) home improvement fund ( I put money in monthly so that we can save towards one improvement that is needed at a time ( currently just finished filing our re-doing kitchen fund 2,500 dollars for this year. Next year it will be saving towards a new pavillion with removable sides to sell our organic vegetables and fruits under. My husband does all the work himself so it saves us lots of money. When we use one sinking fund I immediatley get to work on re-filling it so that the money is always available for when we need it. We also keep a 6 month emergency fund on hand for large catastrophic emergencies or when the "murphys" hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I refuse to think of them as "sinking funds." I have an emergency fund, a vacation fund and a sailboat fund. Now if my sailboat were to sink, my emergency fund would be a sinking fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosyne Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I love my 'sinking' funds. I have, among others: House Downpayment Car Replacement Subscriptions Emergency Fund Insurance Car Repairs/Maint. Household Health Gifts Bank Withdrawals Trips Kids' college/savings Investments Every category has a 'cap' and I'll throw money at it till the cap is reached, then leave it alone. For example, Gifts is currently set at $500. Once I reach that, any extra money goes to one of the other categories until I use some of the money in the Gifts category. A lot of these sections are for yearly payments or payments once I reach a certain amount ($500 for Investments, for example.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly1730 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 As we are first time home owners, how do i determine how much certain things will cost? We just got a price estimate for tree pruning, maintenance and tree removal for our property of $2200; it will be less in future years as the prior owners hadn't done proper maintenance, and we wont have 4 trees to remove. But for things like appliances? I have no idea. I think I read somewhere that 10% of your mortgage would be a ball park figure for home maintenance. Of course, this is an arbitrary amount and once you've live there longer you will probably have a better idea of what your real costs are. In our current home, we have lived here 3.5 years, we have replaced our sump pump twice. Who knew? But, now we know that is a recurring expense for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy2BeautifulGirls Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Same here... We have to have a plumber snake our basement drain about every 8 months or so. If we don't, the washing machine makes the drain start to back up. I don't have any funds that's aren't listed, except for car license renewal. It's almost $100/car for us and our birthdays are a month apart, so it's nice to be prepared for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 So what do you all do? Set up lots of separate accounts at your bank? At another bank? Do they let you do this? My bank has never suggested this and I don't even know if I could do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I feel compelled to admit that I have never heard the term "sinking fund" before? Me either. Maybe it's from a money management program about which we are unaware. ETA: Googled it. This link contains a fairly basic description: http://simplemom.net/sinking-funds/ It looks like ING is great at allowing multiple accounts. I checked my bank and it does not. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 So what do you all do? Set up lots of separate accounts at your bank? At another bank? Do they let you do this? My bank has never suggested this and I don't even know if I could do this. wondering the same thing. is this one big account that you've got "divided up" on paper or multiple accounts? i like the idea but not sure how to approach the management of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 My credit union allows you to have one account which you can divide up into as many sub-accounts as you want - each paycheck I have to go online and move money from the main account into whichever sub-acct I want. I can only write checks or have access to the money in my main acct......so when I am ready to use funds from my sub-accts I have to move them back to the main acct. I can go online and add/subract/change/whatever to my own sub-accts moving money bwt them and my main account. I hope that makes sense - it's sort of the online version of having many envelopes to save money in. I use the sub-accts to save up for things I have to pay cash for ......like wood for heating, sports, ...and for things that helfty payments....like car payments, insurance, taxes Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 All of our fund are sinking. Going right down the drain. But that's probably not helpful to your initial OP. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 All of our fund are sinking. Going right down the drain. But that's probably not helpful to your initial OP. :tongue_smilie: That's exactly what I thought when I read the title. Why would anyone want a sinking fund. I would much prefer a rising fund. We always have an emergency fund but not separated out. Except for a car fund which right now has sank to the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 I think I read somewhere that 10% of your mortgage would be a ball park figure for home maintenance. Of course, this is an arbitrary amount and once you've live there longer you will probably have a better idea of what your real costs are. In our current home, we have lived here 3.5 years, we have replaced our sump pump twice. Who knew? But, now we know that is a recurring expense for us. So, 10% of our annual payments? Or 10% of whatever it is we have out as a loan from the bank? I do know we will need to replace our air conditioners within the next 2 years, and that it will be pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 So what do you all do? Set up lots of separate accounts at your bank? At another bank? Do they let you do this? My bank has never suggested this and I don't even know if I could do this. Many people use ING Direct (I think it's now called Capital 360). It lets you set up unlimited "accounts" online, so right now I have Emergency Fund, Living Expenses (DH "paid" me in advance for the year) and I will set up Home Repair, Christmas and Vacation Funds today. You can transfer from any account to any other, and it links to your bank account. That way, you can really "see" what you have for each thing you're saving for, as opposed to just having a lump sum in savings. That's how I understand it, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I don't have enough funds to have any funds! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I don't have anything like that. What money I don't spend currently goes into my ING account and ends up getting paid to the tax man quarterly. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Me either. Maybe it's from a money management program about which we are unaware. ETA: Googled it. This link contains a fairly basic description: http://simplemom.net/sinking-funds/ It looks like ING is great at allowing multiple accounts. I checked my bank and it does not. :( TD Bank is my "normal" bank, but I use ING for my savings and transfer money into the various accounts that I have set up there weekly. It takes about 2 days for the transfer to go through. So if you need to money be aware you need 2-3 days to see it appear in your regular bank's checking account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Here's another good post on sinking funds: http://deliverawaydebt.com/budgeting/how-to-create-sinking-funds/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Sounds like a great idea, but a lot to keep track of. How much does the ING account cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Sounds like a great idea, but a lot to keep track of. How much does the ING account cost? My ING account has no fees. In fact, they will pay you if you are referred by a friend. (Friend gets $ too.) At least that's how it was when I signed up. It is also free to create new accounts for different buckets of cash. I opened one for each of my girls, and have an automatic monthly transfer to them in order to start a little savings for them. I also have one for my niece's college fund and will open one for my nephew soon. Just makes things easier to keep track of. You can name the account whatever you want. ... I love ING but I wish interest rates didn't always go in one direction (down) when it comes to savings. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I didn't know they had a name. Sinking funds? Yeah, that fits. I have: Savings account Emergency account Investment account - I transfer money to this account to cover the auto draws for the investments Auto loan account - another auto draw account Auto insurance account - another auto draw account Yesterday I was thinking I need to start a heating oil account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Ah. We (dh) do this in Excel with the actual money all lumped in investments or money market accounts. In addition to some of the important ones already mentioned, we have a separate category for landscaping because we often will add trees or shrubs in the growing season. We also have a generic furniture category since those items tend to be expensive and we have trouble finding things we both like, so when it happens I want to be prepared to purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mnemosyne Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 wondering the same thing. is this one big account that you've got "divided up" on paper or multiple accounts? i like the idea but not sure how to approach the management of it. I just have them divided up in my budget. The balance is carried over to the next month. Everything but our monthly bills/investments/long term savings goes into the savings account, the rest is in our checking or broker accounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 1) curriculum 2) emergency (which would include emergency travel) 3) car maintenance/repair 4) dental 5) vacation 6) moving expenses So what do you all do? Set up lots of separate accounts at your bank? At another bank? Do they let you do this? My bank has never suggested this and I don't even know if I could do this. Our curriculum fund is a separate money market account. The rest is in one savings account, but we have a list of earmarked funds and the amount that is in each. In a big, big emergency we could drain it all at once, if we had to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 My ING account has no fees. In fact, they will pay you if you are referred by a friend. (Friend gets $ too.) At least that's how it was when I signed up. It is also free to create new accounts for different buckets of cash. I opened one for each of my girls, and have an automatic monthly transfer to them in order to start a little savings for them. I also have one for my niece's college fund and will open one for my nephew soon. Just makes things easier to keep track of. You can name the account whatever you want. ... I love ING but I wish interest rates didn't always go in one direction (down) when it comes to savings. :/ Woohoo! This might be the solution I was looking for. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I just use YNAB to keep track of it, but it all sits in one account. I have curriculum dental medical (we're on tricare standard so we have some bills but not huge) emergency fund vet bills holiday fund life insurance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Vet bills! I knew i was forgetting something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Vet bills! I knew i was forgetting something! After having to come up with $4000 for a hip surgery and lots of dental work this year, vet bills became a priority for us. Those things can kill a budget if you're not prepared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Oh I see what people are doing. I guess I have been doing this to some extent to- but keeping it so far all in my head. It probably would be better for me to get it down on paper so dh can see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkermamaof4 Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I just added an orthodontic fund. Someone mentioned YNAB. I just began using this to track and manage our spending after using MS Money and then Quicken for close to 20 years. I like YNAB's approach so much better! And the Dave Ramsey class has been phenomenal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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