Best tracking method for savings account?

[Joyous_5]

Hi all,

I've recently closed several savings accounts and consolidated them into one joint account with my husband. We have five areas that we are tracking separately within the one account.

A ledger book is how I've been trying to track these, but I'm finding it difficult. I either forget to add/deduct from accounts (am sure I missed some deposits recently) and it's tedious to keep up. Also with a toddler underfoot and working from home, it's usually hard to find quiet time to work on this without making it into a big production.

Looking for the simplest, easiest, most inexpensive method--any suggestions?

[Float On]

Do you do better on paper or on computer?
I tend to do better on paper on that sort of thing and just kept several registers in one checkbook to keep track of sub-accounts. That way I had room to make notes. From one account I had regualr checking for household budget but I'd also rec'd money from MIL for a building project, and money for homeschooling, and money I was saving for household projects. Keeping several registars I was able to detail the building project purchases, track the homeschooling budget, and know when I had enough for a new fridge, painting a room, etc. With two babies trying to enter everything into an Excel Sheet was just too time consuming.

There are a lot of budget tracking programs (free to expensive - I use QuickBooks Pro for my business accounts). Many will let you have sub-accounts, I haven't kept up with what is available so I'll let others suggest those.

[catherine]

I like YouNeedABudget (computer program), but you pay for it. After really finding it very convoluted, I figured out a way to simply it--I base all the categories on the "All Your Worth" categories of "Needs" "Wants" and "Savings". I also of course have a "Debt" category as well as a "Taxes" and "Giving" category. But all of my expenses are in one of those 4 categories. In my Savings category I differentiate among long-term, emergency fund, and car replacement fund.

Then I just try to abide by the recommended percentages for each of those major categories (50% needs, 30% Wants, 20% Savings--after 25% Taxes and 10% Giving).

It's SO much easier than having 50 million little categories!

[Joyous_5]

Thanks for your responses. Yes, Float On, I do prefer a paper system. It's often hard, like you said, to make it to the computer at just the right time to update a spreadsheet. So, to clarify--you had one savings account but kept separate bank registers? That might work--I'm pretty visual so that might actually be really helpful for me. I could "see" where each of the deposits is going. Thanks for the idea!

Catherine, I appreciate your thoughts, too. I haven't heard of the software you mentioned but will check it out further. It doesn't hurt to have an abundance of choices! 50 million little categories was a past problem, narrowing it down to five is pretty darn good in comparison, but I wonder if I could go lower still . . . hmmmmm, something to consider. Thanks for the tip.

[jp1]

Personally I've become a fan of Mint. It's a free web based program that also has a smartphone app if you happen to have one. All transactions get downloaded into it and then categorized, which you can manipulate to fit your needs. One of the things I like is that you can subcategorize stuff. For instance, restaurant meals (or some such thing) is one category, but I can then subcategory it with 'vacation' so that I can later seperate out vacation expenses from run of the mill dining out when I was at home. The other thing I like about it is that I don't have to track expenses other then cash. Since I have an iPhone I just put those in when they happen, but if I didn't have one I would just write them down and then input them whenever was convenient. In the past I tried to make quicken work for me but after suffering with it for over a year (long enough to get a handle on where my life energy was going) I gave up on it. Mint, though, is truly effortless for me.

[Joyous_5]

Thanks, jp1--I looked at Mint, too. It does look nice and easy to use but I don't have an iphone/pad/anything and I'm not always near the computer. Still, it's something to think about. I type really fast, so maybe it would be more convenient! :)