checking, savings, and EF fund

[dndylfe]

Question:

Do you place your EF fund in a savings account?

Do you set aside your yearly expenses (say for car insurance) in a seperate checking account or savings account?

Do you have multiple checking accounts and if so, how do you seperate them?



P.S. Shell, everytime I see your EF fund amount, I think, I need to get on the bandwagon!!! That girl's on a roll!

[webjoba]

I have my checking account for day to day stuff and it is linked to a low interest savings account where I stash money for infrequent bills like car insurance and car tax (annual).

My EF stays in my ING (internet bank) account where it attracts a higher rate of interest and takes 3 or so days to get at. This protects me from using it for emergencies that really are not emergencies. (i.e. new stuff that are wants rather than needs)

[Emerald_Mommy]

We have one savings account and one checking account. We're thinking about getting an ING account for our emergency fund (3 months expenses) but right now everything's in one account, only divided on paper. We budget every month for yearly (or quarterly, whatever) expenses and that money just stays in our savings account until we need it.

[chatterweb]

Do you place your EF fund in a savings account?

Yes

Do you set aside your yearly expenses (say for car insurance) in a seperate checking account or savings account?

No.

Do you have multiple checking accounts and if so, how do you seperate them?
Yes.

House account: direct deposit goes here, we pay bills online and with checks out of this account. We also have auto savings of 300.00 transferred once a month to savings account.

My account: Free checking, but I never ordered checks. I use a debit card for stuff I buy for me, the pets and DH. I transfer money from the house account to this account.

DH's account: It is set up the same as my account.

Savings: We use this account for emergencies only. Our tax refund will go here.

[PrairieRose]

We have our EF in a savings acct., have only 1 checking acct. and don't set aside money separately for other expenses. I know they are coming up and when and prepare by saving the money in the EF for them.

[thrifty gal]

Do you place your EF fund in a savings account? Yes, ours is in an ING account

Do you set aside your yearly expenses (say for car insurance) in a seperate checking account or savings account? No

Do you have multiple checking accounts and if so, how do you seperate them? No

[frugalfarmwife]

I have a regular checking and savings acct with our local bank, I pay all bills online and we have direct deposit to our checking.

For bills such as insurance and taxes I have an ING account that I try to keep 6 months ahead of the payments.

My EF is in an ING account.

I also have an ING acct for saving money for a new truck for hubby and an ING account that I add all our change to for our 20th anniversary in 8 years.

The difference in interest is HUGE between our bank and ING and I keep far enough ahead to transfer money before bills are due.

kj

[FrugalMomof3]

We just have our regular checking account that is used to pay the bills, etc. Our mortgage is automatically deducted every 2 weeks (this also pays our taxes and homeowners insurance) and I pay all my bills online so the only time I need my debit card is to buy necessities and groceries.

We have an ING account which is our EF fund as well. Got this down to automatically take $25 every 2 weeks. I can't wait to see my ING account GROW!

[littlemotherhaywood]

Before we totally hunkered down, we had two seperate accounts. Money to pay the bills went directly into checking and then promplty to debtors Money for other expenses (car ins. and bills that only come a few times a year) went into a savings account. The problem with that system is that we would come up short and rob the savings account.

Now I set up an ING account so we can't get to it very fast. We do still have the other savings acct (because dh wants to keep doing business with the credit union), but we haven't decided yet if we're going to move the money for infrequent bills or not. I'm hoping that once we have a bugdet in place, we won't need to rob that account and it won't be a big deal. As long as I keep the debit card, it should be safe, lol.

[AmyBoz]

We have a savings account where my paychecks are automatically deposited. We also have a checking account where dh's checks are automatically deposited. We pay all bills from checking, and if we need more money to cover a bill, we transfer it out of savings and into checking. So, savings doesn't get touched except when we need more for bills.

Our EF is fairly new and right now is just cash that I have hidden in the house. Dh and I both know where it is, and I am going to be adding to it each week. Right now, we don't really want to open another bank account, although we realize that we aren't earning any interest on it as cash in the house.

[guest7]

I have a 'fixed bill' checking account that pays all the regularly occuring fixed bills, like cable, phone, etc. There is a fixed amount that goes in and out of that account.

I have a 'flexible spending' checking account that has bills or items that aren't not fixed in the amounts. Like clothing, household items, etc.

I have a small EF in a savings account that is easily accessible.

I have large 'salary loss' EF in a savings account- not easily accessable and put into CDs for more interest. But I could get my hands on it if I needed to.

I have a retirement account- separate from all this.

And finally, I have savings bonds in case all else fails.

[madhen]

I automatically contribute $100/month to my EF fund, which is in a mutual fund. It is tied to my checking account, so I can get to it immediately with a phone call, but I have to make the conscious decision to get to it!

I have three checking accounts at two banks. I have one checking account that is set up for bills (all electronically paid through that account). At another bank, which is downstairs from my office, I have my "discretionary income" checking account, in which I automatically transfer a portion of my paycheck for incidentals and groceries, and basically anything else I can't pay by EFT. Finally, I have a business checking account for my eBay business. All three accounts have savings accounts attached to them, but I don't really use them because none of them accrue any interest.

[Denvergirlie]

One checking, one savings account.

Savings is my FFEF in ING

Checkign handles everything else. No sinking funds for yerly expenses, we don't have large yerly expenses, so just cash flow them when the come up. Car insurance comes out monthly, so newspaper subscription, and car tags/ registration are the only real yearly expenses we have.

We also don't trade any gifts for things like B-days or X-mas (we have enough stuff!) so don't have to do sinking funds for things like that either.

[thefrug]

regular checking account for day to day bills
checking account for the mortgage payment ( the bank can just electronically take it out)
savings account for taxes and pellets for heating
savings account for EF or vacation

[Trishagirl]

Do you place your EF fund in a savings account? No it's in the house.

Do you set aside your yearly expenses (say for car insurance) in a seperate checking account or savings account? No dh pays that when it comes in w/checking acct.

Do you have multiple checking accounts and if so, how do you seperate them?No