Freedon Account/Sinking Fund

**EmilyD** · 08-01-2008, 06:41 PM

I am wondering how others fund these accounts?

I know how the books suggest it but what if you don't make enough to do it?

How would YOU do it?

Thanks !

**inneedofhope** · 08-01-2008, 06:45 PM

i just started having $25 auto transfered to savings each month. It's not much, but a start, and I really haven't noticed it even though on paper I'm really tapped.

**nodmicks** · 08-01-2008, 09:12 PM

I'D start by adding whatever you can and challenge yourself to add a little more each time. I found I had to stretch it when I up'ed my auto draft to my ING account each week. I look at it as a weekly bill. It made for some creative weeks!

**treeluva** · 08-02-2008, 05:45 AM

Even though I am not in a place to do it right now, my goal is to save 10 percent of my take home pay per week BEFORE doing anything else. Right now I am taking 2% of my weekly take home pay and putting it into the savings account. Of course, I am just going to take it out at the end of the month to apply it towards debts, but I am trying to get myself into the habit of saving FIRST. Hopefully by the time my debt is gone I will be up to 10% of my savings and I will be used to automatically saving it that will stick for the rest of my life.

**Kris B** · 08-02-2008, 12:58 PM

When I first started mine, I wrote down every non regular expense I could think of (clothing, camping, estimated car repairs or dental expenses, christmas, birthdays etc) and figured how much all the items cost for the year then I divided it by 12 and my number came to $433 per month. So I just count is as another bill and it gets put in my savings.
HTH

**peanut** · 08-02-2008, 01:01 PM

We took the expenses over the course of the year and divided by twelve. then we added that to any big expenditures coming up, and put it in a separate savings account, where we could not access it easily. We tend to forecast our expenditures 6 months into the future, if possible (some things just break down without warning!).

I like to put money aside right when we get paid. It wasn't much at first...maybe a few bucks. I also build it into our budgeting system. DH needs $80 for gas for the car and an average of $80 for repairs a month. So he gets $160 in the transportation budget to cover gas and repairs. If he were a spender (which he isn't), I'd be putting the $80 for repairs in a separate account that was hard to access.

We also buy a lot of our big ticket items used or secondhand. I'm looking at a nice 15 cu. ft. freezer right now that I bought for $75, and a can of Tremclad spray paint ($5.92).

So I guess I attack this situation from two angles: I put aside extra money a month off the top, and I buy used whenever possible.

Jean

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 08-02-2008, 02:47 PM

Well we put $500 a month into a freedom account to cover those irregular expenses. It isn't enough actually. In the beginning though we figured out what we needed to put in, realized there was no way we could do that, and then put in what we could. We jump started it with a tax return, but then each pay period we would just decide which area needed it the most and put what we could there. It took us over a year before we could fully fund this account each month. It has truly been a life saver though. good luck!

**Jskell911** · 08-02-2008, 04:15 PM

I have $50 of my pay direct deposited into a separate account each week.

**ladykemma2** · 08-02-2008, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Kris B

When I first started mine, I wrote down every non regular expense I could think of (clothing, camping, estimated car repairs or dental expenses, christmas, birthdays etc) and figured how much all the items cost for the year then I divided it by 12 and my number came to $433 per month. So I just count is as another bill and it gets put in my savings.
HTH

this is what i do, too.

**EmilyD** · 08-02-2008, 05:17 PM

When I first started mine, I wrote down every non regular expense I could think of (clothing, camping, estimated car repairs or dental expenses, christmas, birthdays etc) and figured how much all the items cost for the year then I divided it by 12 and my number came to $433 per month. So I just count is as another bill and it gets put in my savings.

This is what both books tell you todo and if I had the money I would.

My question was what people do that CAN"T do this. Using your example, I would have to come up with $433 per month that I don't make. The expenses are still going to come, so I was trying to find a way to work with that and help a little.

I think I am going to try the $25.00 deposit to a savings account until I can get the debt paid off.

To avoid charges on my bank accounts, I deposit $75.00 a month to an account and then have it transferred to a Money Market account. Usually I just transfer it back after it has been transferred and spend it. But I think I will use $50.00 for a monthly investment account and $25.00 for a freedom account and start building both.

**prftstrngr** · 08-02-2008, 06:09 PM

I dont have money to save either. So what I have done is started a change jar and I also have this little box that I have been putting money in that no one knows about. When I do extra things...like every 3 weeks I cut a ladies hair and she gives me $20....I put that money in the box cause its not money that is budgeted. I sold a few things on kijiji and I put that cash in there as well. I figure this will get me started and is better thatn having nothing at all to fall back on.

**shoiji** · 08-02-2008, 06:31 PM

When I was working I got a pretty nice raise. Instead of spending it I had it transferred to the retirement plan at work. I was already putting into the fund but decided if I put raise amount into the fund also then I would never even realize I was missing anything.

Every little bit counts even if it is 5, 10, 20 dollars a month. Maybe to reward youself for paying off a debt tell yourself each time I pay-off a debt I will add another 5, 10, or 20 dollars to my savings each month. May take a while longer to pay the debt off, but you will be surprised how your thinking changes and you find other ways to save!

**McD** · 08-02-2008, 06:41 PM

When we were getting started (and we still do this) is to round paychecks to the nearest 100$.

So if you get paid 1534.69 on one pay period, you would automatically deposit that 34.69 into your emergency fund and use that 1500$ for bills. It adds up and it's better than nothing.