First of the month – pay all bills that are in hand (water bill isn’t always here). Most are on autodraft and I’m trying to set up the remainder as online banking.

Mid month – pay water bill, auto debits for savings, new car/next house project fund and monthly Roth contribution transfered out to the appropriate accounts automatically.

End of month – extra is swept into savings. I’m trying to get the accrual accounts to the point where they are funded for a rolling calendar year in advance.

E fund is a combination of an ING account linked to the household account and laddered short term CDs at my credit union. These accounts are approaching a year of gross income, so I will probably be adding money to my retirement %; I’m a long way from maxed.

Retirement is 401(k) pretax/not included in the number above.

The money in my ‘personal’ account is eating out, hobbies, entertainment, clothes. If there’s money left in there (over the $100 cushion), it is swept into a linked savings at the end of the month for vacations. My bonus and any ‘found’ money is also deposited into the vacation account. Sometimes I divide this savings account into a vacation fund and ‘want to buy the next cool electronic gadget’ fund.

Interesting to see how different people handle this, but the one thing I see in common is to make the process as ‘idiot proof’ as possible. Long gone are the days when I never knew when a bill was due!!!

The first half of the month contains one set of bills, car insurance, internet, groceries

The second half (and these are all scheduled on the pay days) is my car payment and phone bill.

I have three auto-transfers, $100 to my ING savings, $60 to my Christmas fund, and $200 into my regular savings. I keep the regular savings at $500, for immediate emergencies that I need transfered into my checking. Once it’s at the $500, I put $200/month into my ING instead.

I don’t carry cash, I really should start, but I hardly ever go out to eat, and the only time I need my card is for gas.

All of my payments are done online, except for Car payment, which is done via check because otherwise they charge $8 to pay online (Thanks Capital One).

If I have a decent amount of extra money forcasted in MS Money for the month, I’ll pay extra on my car payment. Once it’s paid off, I’ll still pay myself car payments but directly into my savings.

And I keep track of it all in MS Money so I know how much is leftover in my checking in case my father needs money for his prescriptions.

This was kinda sporadic

I pay all the bills I have slotted to be paid for with that check on payday, regardless of when they are due (which means they are early). On my way to work I pull out cash for food and gas, they go in different parts of my wallet so I know how much I have for what. Although towards the end of the pay period if one has money left over and the other needs it I tend to take from it.

Any leftover cash in my wallet on the next payday goes into a box that I set aside for payperiods when I run short of food/gas money. It’s also doubling as my ‘visit friends who live 3 hours away’ fund. Once it reaches $50 then I’ll go visit my friends and be able to pay for gas and one dinner out.

One of my checks always has extra money in it, but it’s a different amount every month because it’s based on how many extra on call nights I work the month before. I have a list of ‘extra’ stuff that I need to cover that month, like birthday gifts. Once that extra list is gone through the rest of the money goes to savings or to pay on debt.

I also have a part time job that pays me weekly by check. That check I deposit every Tuesday along with any other extra money I might have acquired during the week (babysitting, surveys, etc) and it gets transferred either to savings or to pay on debt. Out of sight, out of mind. Only in the bank long enough to be transferred out.

The remaining $400 stays in my personal checking account as “walking around money” for the month (I manipulated my retirement contributions so that my take-home pay is $4,000. Because I’m a geek.) Then I usually go to the ATM and withdraw $100 — $20 for me and $80 to pay my piano teacher for the month’s lessons.

Our joint account pays for our mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc. My “bills” account is where I pay for my car, my cell phone, clothes, etc. I pay for my medical expenses with a debit card for my FSA. I use online billpay for everyone who’ll take it. Anything left in the discretionary account at the end of the month goes into the ING savings.

I also have a Vanguard account for my emergency fund and retirement and a Paypal account that is also discretionary.

Good question!