Article: My Financial Infrastructure.

After reading this great article on Getting Rich Slowly, I was inspired to write about using multiple savings accounts. This is a wonderful tip that my husband and I started years ago. We set up a savings account, checking account and a second savings account that had money automatically deducted each month for our vacation fund. These days we still use multiple accounts for the different priorities in our life. We have the checking account and savings account for our emergency fund, we also have 3 other ING Accounts for other priorities in our life.

• One account is a college fund for our little girl
• One is set aside for property taxes- we transfer the monthly amount into this account and then transfer the money into savings twice a year when the bill is due
• The third account is for home repairs. We currently have a few repairs that we hope to accomplish this year and we set aside any money we receive from selling items on Craigslist to be put back into this account.

We have been using ING for years and enjoy the convenience and extra interest we get from using a virtual bank. The interest rate fluctuates all the time and is currently at 1.5% down a little from February when it was over 2% and last year when it was 4.5%!

If you aren’t familiar with ING I have written about it in more detail here and here. I would strongly encourage everyone to consider opening a few accounts that suit your needs. If you are saving for a new to you car- you might have a car fund, if you hope to pay cash for a big project or if you are living debt free and want to save for a luxury item than why not put a name on that money and designate a special account? You can take the next step and have everything automated through your checking account to really simplify your life.

If you have $250 to start an account ING offers an additional $25 sign up bonus. You can transfer the funds out of your account at any time or you can arrange to have a debit card (we do not) for your accounts. Email me at myfrugaladventures at yahoo dot com for the bonus code.