As cost-of-living pressures continue to climb, people are looking for creative ways to save. One method gaining popularity on social media is called "cash stuffing". It's a reinvention of the old envelope system our grandparents used to use, and it's bringing back the use of physical cash.
I’ve been wondering if there’s a way to do this with actual bank accounts. I know with ING I can only have like 2 savings/transactional accounts (1 joint, 1 personal).
I’d like to be able to spin up accounts for these categories and use them as the “envelopes” instead of relying on cash.
I’m with bank Australia they let me have as many sub accounts as i please, no fees.
There’s savings, bill kitty, rates, honeypot (building a six month expense nest egg separate to savings) car kitty, cat emergencies, house emergencies. Anything left on the main card-accessibile account is groceries and pissing away money. Been running that since the 90’s. Works so well husband has been throwing his half in there as well since '07
Partner and I have 2 individual accounts where we get our personal money paid in and a main bill paying account that covers everything not related to personal stuff. We both contribute to the main account and pay out from that each fortnight for our “allowances”.
Edit: I wrote the reply before noticing that I was not in a US-centric sub. That’s on me. But the general premise of “No, you can’t autodebit” or “Sure, I’ll let you think you can auto-debit. Doesn’t mean I’ll have it turned on at that moment” still holds.
Fidelity does not have an upper limit on the number of cash management accounts one can have. At least not one that I’ve discovered, as yet.
I’ve been doing this for years, but for me it’s more about sequestering money away from the card that I actively use. Ever sat there for a couple days and realized just how many times Apple will try to hit your card(s) the same day? Same with Amazon.
If that card approves, it’s because I’m explicitly trying to pay you, not because some company decided they want to be more aggressive with the autopay.
I don’t use Zelle etc for that, when I can help it - look at who runs that service. Yeah, no, not giving you even more data so you can make assumptions about my behavior and intentions.
In addition, I’ve found multi-currency cards with the ability to set aside money to be useful in the same way. I absolutely do not have trust or a prior relationship with everyone I’m paying over the course of a month, which means I want more control over that process than I normally get.
Is it a pain in the ass sometimes? Sure. But it’s also annoying to have to unlock cards when I want to use them - doesn’t mean that I forego that extra security. The alternative is bad.
But the general premise of “No, you can’t autodebit” or “Sure, I’ll let you think you can auto-debit. Doesn’t mean I’ll have it turned on at that moment” still holds.
That doesn’t hold in Australia. I’ve never heard of a bank here that allows you to (easily) stop someone from taking money out of your account. In fact, even if the account is empty they might be able to overdraw it if they have the right level of merchant account (I had that happen once, when I booked a flight that was about to depart, and they messed up/failed to charge me for the flight. Three months later someone noticed and my account was charged/overdrawn).
As someone who runs a business that charges customers money all day every day… if I have the customer’s details then I can charge their account whatever I want. Sure, I could go to jail (or be sent out of business) if I do the wrong thing… but there isn’t really much protection below that point and if I’m only mildly scummy, I’d probably get away with it.
I’ve been wondering if there’s a way to do this with actual bank accounts. I know with ING I can only have like 2 savings/transactional accounts (1 joint, 1 personal).
I’d like to be able to spin up accounts for these categories and use them as the “envelopes” instead of relying on cash.
Yes.
I’m with bank Australia they let me have as many sub accounts as i please, no fees.
There’s savings, bill kitty, rates, honeypot (building a six month expense nest egg separate to savings) car kitty, cat emergencies, house emergencies. Anything left on the main card-accessibile account is groceries and pissing away money. Been running that since the 90’s. Works so well husband has been throwing his half in there as well since '07
@Taleya @bmck
Partner and I have 2 individual accounts where we get our personal money paid in and a main bill paying account that covers everything not related to personal stuff. We both contribute to the main account and pay out from that each fortnight for our “allowances”.
https://bankaust.com.au/ ?
I was looking at their site and could see anything about sub-accounts?
Bankaust, yup. You just slap an online saver or three in there.
Edit: I wrote the reply before noticing that I was not in a US-centric sub. That’s on me. But the general premise of “No, you can’t autodebit” or “Sure, I’ll let you think you can auto-debit. Doesn’t mean I’ll have it turned on at that moment” still holds.
Fidelity does not have an upper limit on the number of cash management accounts one can have. At least not one that I’ve discovered, as yet.
I’ve been doing this for years, but for me it’s more about sequestering money away from the card that I actively use. Ever sat there for a couple days and realized just how many times Apple will try to hit your card(s) the same day? Same with Amazon.
If that card approves, it’s because I’m explicitly trying to pay you, not because some company decided they want to be more aggressive with the autopay.
I don’t use Zelle etc for that, when I can help it - look at who runs that service. Yeah, no, not giving you even more data so you can make assumptions about my behavior and intentions.
In addition, I’ve found multi-currency cards with the ability to set aside money to be useful in the same way. I absolutely do not have trust or a prior relationship with everyone I’m paying over the course of a month, which means I want more control over that process than I normally get.
Is it a pain in the ass sometimes? Sure. But it’s also annoying to have to unlock cards when I want to use them - doesn’t mean that I forego that extra security. The alternative is bad.
That doesn’t hold in Australia. I’ve never heard of a bank here that allows you to (easily) stop someone from taking money out of your account. In fact, even if the account is empty they might be able to overdraw it if they have the right level of merchant account (I had that happen once, when I booked a flight that was about to depart, and they messed up/failed to charge me for the flight. Three months later someone noticed and my account was charged/overdrawn).
As someone who runs a business that charges customers money all day every day… if I have the customer’s details then I can charge their account whatever I want. Sure, I could go to jail (or be sent out of business) if I do the wrong thing… but there isn’t really much protection below that point and if I’m only mildly scummy, I’d probably get away with it.