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Home > Personal finance tools: No. 4 - Fun-Money Savings

Personal finance tools: No. 4 - Fun-Money Savings

May 6th, 2009 at 05:18 pm

Actually, this tool's name is now a misnomer, I realize. It's just a savings worksheet.

I keep all my savings in one account and use this worksheet to remember what amounts are earmarked for which purposes. If I have a goal date, I note that on the spreadsheet.



I opened a savings account that's linked to my checking account; it has no minimum balance and makes it easy to transfer funds in and out of my checking account. Initially this was going to be for saving up money for various wants. Now that I've started an emergency fund, and started saving for AS's retirement since she has no job-sponsored plan, the account serves many purposes.

We also started having a surplus in the UK account this month, so I'm going to track that savings account and add it to the emergency-fund amount. It is accessible if an emergency does come up; it will just take a bit more effort to get to it.

That's the last of the personal finance tools I use all the time and consider essential. I've started spreadsheets to plan and track saving and spending for a specific vacation or project, and I have a spreadsheet where I'm going to track our individual net worth. Basically, any part of your financial life that you want more control over, an Excel spreadsheet can help you do that.

And I highly recommend putting them all in Google docs, because you can access them from anywhere, you don't have to worry about your hard drive breaking and losing everything, and it's a completely free method, unlike some budgeting software. Sure, you have to enter all the info yourself, but I feel like that makes me more involved in the day-to-day activity of my money, so I think it's a good thing.

5 Responses to “Personal finance tools: No. 4 - Fun-Money Savings”

  1. Personal Finance Student Says:
    1241630707

    That's how I do our Freedom Account too. I have subcategories all within one account and keep it organized with a spreadsheet. VERY helpful!

  2. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1241640412

    Thanks for the tip re Google Docs...thats the first I've heard of them !

  3. L Saver Says:
    1241661149

    I've really enjoyed your tips, Ceejay -- thanks for sharing them! I currently have all of my savings in separate accounts at ING, where I can see them all at one time. But I think having one account and then keeping track on a spreadsheet has a lot of advantages. It can be kind of a pain to have to deal with all the separate accounts. But, anyway, thanks again for sharing Smile

  4. whitestripe Says:
    1241681124

    thanks for posting this, i'm trying to get used to having everything in one account and you've given me some good tips Smile

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1241708531

    Cool, glad you guys liked them! I figure we can all learn from each other's methods, as everyone is bound to have little quirks they've developed on their own. For instance, the righthand column in Number Crunch that shows what the balance will be when each transaction hits--I got that idea when a friend of mine showed me his budget spreadsheet.

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