As part of Dave Ramsey’s first “Baby Step”, we saved $1000 to keep as our Emergency Fund. The point of this fund is to set it aside and forget it and NOT use it for “emergencies” like needing a new pair of shoes. I did have a hard time setting this money aside, knowing that we had so many other bills to pay in the beginning. However, if we had not done this and a true emergency did come up, we would have fallen right back into the credit card trap.
$1000 saved, so now what? We wanted to keep the money in a place that was not accessible with just the swipe of a card, but we didn’t want it totally locked away either. We chose to keep it in a savings account through ING Direct. We have to request a transfer of money to retrieve our funds, but it only takes 2-3 days. This keeps the money at least semi-fluid.
We chose to open several sub-accounts under our main savings account:
- Emergency Fund – Our original $1000
- Kids Fund – Any extra birthday money my kids get
- Car Insurance – We pay our insurance every 6 months, so I divided the total by 6 and deposit the appropriate amount in this fund each month.
- Extra Savings – This is where we save for our current goal (new truck, mortgage installment loan)
It is super easy to link our checking accounts with ING Direct and transfers take less than 30 seconds to complete. I will be honest, the interest rate is not very high but after comparing rates at other banks or online savings accounts, there wasn’t enough difference to make it worth the switch. We’re comfortable with ING and our main goal for these accounts is not necessarily to make money. We just want a safe and easy place to hold our money, that may make us a few dollars in return.
For smaller purchases or items we are going to be purchasing in the next few months, I keep the money in our main checking account but “set it aside” in a Google Doc. Just by writing an amount in a column titled “Furniture”, I know it’s there and won’t touch it until we officially decide to buy the kids a new bed or a new recliner (or whatever it is we have decided to save for).
We have been with ING Direct for so long, that I’m honestly not familiar with any other online savings options. I’d love to hear how you manage your savings or any other programs you’ve used and been happy with.
If you are interested in signing up for an account, they are still offering a free $50 bonus when you open an Electric Orange checking account.
Official Disclosure: While I do make commission if you sign up for a free account with ING Direct, we truly have been using them for several years so I’m speaking from personal experience. We have been extremely happy with our experience, but I am totally open to new ideas or suggestions.
In case you missed it:
- Creating and Sticking to a Budget: Our Story
- Creating and Sticking to a Budget: Gathering your information
- Creating and Sticking to a Budget: Our “Zero-Based Budget”
- Creating and Sticking to a Budget: Starting our Dave Ramsey Journey
- Creating and Sticking to a Budget: What we are Doing with our New-Found “Freedom” from Debt
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