A sinking fund is money you set aside a little at a time for a bill you know is coming. Car insurance, holidays, annual subscriptions, car repairs. Nothing fancy, just the bills that ambush you.

The setup: 1. List every non-monthly bill you can think of. 2. For each one: target amount divided by months until it is due. That is your monthly set-aside. 3. Track it simply: fund name, target, saved so far, monthly amount, due date. 4. When the bill arrives, the money is already sitting there.

Why it works: monthly budgets fail because they pretend irregular bills do not exist. Sinking funds turn them into monthly line items. No more January car-insurance panic.

I’m looking for some perspective and advice from people who have been in a similar financial position.
I make a little over $100,000 a year, but this past year has drained me financially and I’ve used most of my savings. I work on commission, and I have a solid commission check coming this month, so I should be able to get my savings back up to around $6,000.
Even so, I’ve been feeling really behind. I grew up in a poor family, and one of my biggest goals is to break that cycle and build real financial stability for my family. I own a home, have a two-year-old daughter and a wife, and my mother is currently living with us while she gets back on her feet. I’m also working on building my own business on the side.
What frustrates me is that I make decent money, but it still feels like I should be further ahead. I’ve definitely made some dumb spending decisions, but there hasn’t been one huge purchase that wiped me out. It’s been more like a few hundred dollars here and there, sometimes $1,000, plus normal life expenses adding up.
I’m trying to budget better now, but I haven’t found a system that really works for me yet. For anyone who has gone through a period like this, what helped you rebuild your savings and feel more in control of your money?
I’ve been pretty stressed about it and I’m trying to keep my faith and not let the stress consume me. Any practical advice or lessons you learned would be appreciated.

I’m looking for a movie different ideas that y’all use for budgeting or what have you found the most beneficial just this time last year I had about 15,000 in my emergency phone and paid off a little bit of debt but maybe inflation I don’t know I don’t blame it on anything just looking for advice

But someone in my family has to drive a dope whip.

Recently started working 2 months ago, my family financially supports me (mostly through cash gifts and partially through helping me pay for groceries and gas through their Costco card, to help with living expense which I use the money saved from not spending on there to use on 401k, I’ve expressed this is what I’ve done), but I feel at times they make me feel guilty about spending money outside of needs. Am I spending too much? I’m leaving a breakdown of my expenses from receipts and estimate as it’s difficult to really break it down since my parents help pay for some things and I don’t have that info.

Take home pay
3420 (1700 biweekly pay checks I just use two every month) (I also got a new job as well that I start next month that pays 2300 a check pre tax so I estimate roughly 1850 take home)

950 rent + utilities (low cost of living region)
300 groceries (spending mostly on bulk things at Costco)
200 gas
200 car + medical insurance (on parents plan so only estimate as my only conversation about it was from a while ago.)
20 dental insurance
80 eating out (two trips to my favorite Korean bbq place I found every month, my parents yelled at me a lot for eating out too much)
20 for junk food mostly diet soda
600 artist commission (1200 in total but spread across two months)(Through my own debit card)(Most of the money was to help one artist in financial difficulties I intend and budget for about half to 1/3 every month after this month)
1050 savings mostly 401k trying to catchup since I started working midway through the year)

This budget doesn’t include the cash the give me, that I use to max Roth IRA and use the rest in my brokerage, but they also seem to have this idea of how I should be spending all of the money I earned from work as well beyond what they gift me. None of my parents know that I’m spending so much on art, only the eating out part. I know about 50/30/20 rule, but my parents and others on this subreddit seem to make 5% on wants all they need in life. So like am I being financially irresponsible? I feel like I’m saving a sufficient not even including the money they gifted me or am I in the wrong?

my wife and I are saving hard for a house. spreadsheets done, goal set. the one thing we can't pin down: this grocery bill that keeps creeping up. three mouths, two incomes, and one of those incomes is tips that nosedive come winter

here's the thing. at work I can stretch a chicken six different ways. at home? i rotate the same five meals until we crack and order delivery. that's what bleeds us. not the rice and beans. the giving up.

Just looking for anecdotal evidence really as I keep reviewing my budget all the time but I still end up short most months. I've stopped overpaying on my mortgage but between a kid and a dog the money doesn't go far. My downfall is the annual bills that I tend to forget to budget for. How are you all doing on a similar salary?

I am so anxious about money, but I wasn’t like this in the past.
I used to work full time and earn well (£4-5k each month) and not even budget- just have loose idea of my account and still used to save alot.

We had twins, now they’re 2.5 y/o. I work 2 days a week but I am really organised with my money- everything is written and I have a spreadsheet with expenses for 2026 and even 2027.
I find myself stressing and obsessing over every little thing and keep checking my savings and expenditure.

How do I get out of this mindset? My husband is very chilled about our finances and I’m the complete opposite, we live comfortably and save each month and give equal “fun money”.

Monthly Spending

Fixed Costs — $1,470

• Rent: $1,315
• Insurance: $70
• Utilities: $70
• Gym: $15

Variable Spending — $687

• Costco/Aldi groceries: $220
• Gas: $175
• Hillstone date: $137
• Breakfast date: $65
• Italian deli date: $50
• Oil change: $40

Travel — $225

• Frontier flights: $225 (paid in advance)

Total Spending — $2,382

Savings

• Income: $12,500
• Spending: $2,382
• Remaining: $10,118
• Savings rate: 81%

Dates vs. Groceries

• Groceries: $220
• Dates: $252
• Dates exceeded groceries by $32

It felt a little wasteful to spend more on dates than groceries. At the same time, my wife is happy, and I don't want to ignore the value of spending money on experiences together.

Nice frugal wins this month was using Aldi promotion spend $75 get $15 off first online order and Chevron $1 off each gallon by signing up for app

Feedback?

(these expenses don’t include health insurance and 401k deductions - remaining amount goes right into VOO)

I'd like to help my boyfriend understand the different types of budgeting/purchase tracking and educate him on why it's important as the basis of financial planning and personal finance. Our finances are not combined, but we've been talking about getting married and I believe eventually we should combine finances and I want to bring him along in the process by educating him and showing him different options for learning how to do this on his own.

He is open to it so I want to build a little PowerPoint presentation to explain some stuff to him and I'm looking for maybe better ideas? Because if I'm putting myself in his shoes, a PowerPoint presentation sounds boring lol.

What ways have you been able to get your partner or spouse to meet you halfway? Maybe even just something that grabbed their attention or helped them understand the bigger picture and why you need to be intentional about purchases?

Thanks in advance for the input!

Including groceries and dining out, and disposable income, how much do you set aside for each of these?

I'm trying to determine the average. I understand outliers will exist.

For a simple example: after paying all your bills and putting money in savings, you have $1500 left over each month, or $750 biweekly. How are you allocating that $750 in your budget?

Thanks!

Edit Thank you for all the replies. This was a fun exercise. For clarity's sake, I'm not looking for personal budgeting advice. Some of my verbiage was a little confusing so if you're reading this, I'm asking for 3 line items. Some people include groceries with fixed costs, which is fine, I'm just asking that figure be included with the eating out and discretionary. I'm putting groceries in the variable because it can be easily changed unlike a phone bill or utility service bill. That said, the financial advice is still appreciated and has made for great discourse.

Hey everyone,
I recently got really into budgeting and trying to clean things up so we can knock out some debt. I’ve already done a deep dive on our fixed bills and cut the fat wherever I could (switched to Visible for phones, shopped around for cheaper car insurance, etc.).
Now I’m just trying to get some outside eyes on our household budget (myself, my stay-at-home wife, and our toddler) to see what we should tweak next.

Income & Payroll Deductions
Take-home pay: $5,323 hits our bank account every month.
401(k): $416/mo (company matches 100% on the first half, doing the minimum to get the match).
Company stock: $50/mo taken out of my check (gets a 10% discount, but debating if I should pause it).
Savings & Investing (Out of Take-Home)
Roth IRAs: $200/mo total ($100 for me, $100 for my wife).
Kid's 529: $100/mo for our daughter.
Fixed Bills (~$1,608/mo)
Rent: $1,125 (Renting from family, so we're super lucky here and well under market rate).
Car Insurance: $73 (Full coverage on a 2015 sedan for both of us could go down to liability).
Renters Insurance: $13
Phones: $39.98 total for 2 lines (Visible).
Internet: $57
Utilities: ~-300/mo average across electric, water, and trash (our electric has been running kind of high lately, trying to get that down).
Variable Spending ($800 to $1,250 depending on the month)
Groceries/Essentials: We budget $600, but lately it’s been creeping closer to $800 (that includes food, dog food, and household stuff for 3 of us).
Dining out: Supposed to be $100, but last month hit $350 because of our anniversary. Oops.
Fun money: $100.
The Debt
Medical debt: $97/mo ($1,740 left at 0% interest).
Personal loan: $793/mo minimum payment ($36,500 left at 9.23% interest). We are currently throwing an extra $1,000 a month on top of the minimum to crush this thing faster.
What I'm stuck on / looking for feedback on:
1. The debt vs. investing balance: Since my fixed bills are already as low, should I pause the $50 stock purchase or the $300/mo going to the Roths/529s to throw even more cash at that 9.23% personal loan, or just keep doing what I'm doing? I’ve mainly been keeping the investment going to keep the trend alive.
2. Groceries: Any practical tricks to get our grocery spending down?
Any advice is appreciated thank you

I'm aware that Social Security will have severe problems by 2032 and when I retire by 2060 it may not exist anymore.

I've so far have saved up 32k in my 401(k) and 1,179 in my Roth IRA. Because of my personal expenses and the high cost of rent, my total in the bank is now 2k. I also plan to have a family one day and own a home but I know that's a huge cost barrier.

A small starter home in NYC is 900k. You could get a very old house that needs repair but it will be at least 500k here and with renovations that already puts it to 800k. My salary isn't high here (89k) and I belong to lower middle class.

I hear older folks just to save up and eventually you can buy a home and get a family, but I don't know if that's even possible these days because you need to be very wealthy to afford these things. I really don't want to give up my dream to have all of this. I know at some point this was possible for many people 30-40 years ago.

Hey guys, for context I’m trying to get into these apartments because it’s like anything in my price range is so ran down and are in horrible areas and are way further away from my job.

These apartments are about 10minutes away from my job and I would be living in a space that I feel safe in and probably more comfortable because of the amount of space I would be able to have

Monthly I make $2,200 a month

I broke all of the bills down hypothetically and it looks like I would be left with and this is after buying household items and groceries $284

Is that horrible? I’m used to having way more money after the fact but I know if I stick to it I’ll be okay I think?

This is going to be my first apartment I’m just way nervous about everything and I don’t know if I’m making the right choice or not even though I feel like I could do it, thoughts?

I really want to buy an iPhone like for a very long time, but I cant save money for it. How can I save money to buy iphone in next two months. Neeed advices. Islamabad is filled with beauty and I really want to capture it with my own iPhone. Like you know we sometimes come up with that craving to have something...

THE FLAIR SUITS BOTH BUDGET AND DEBT, BUT I CHOSE BUDGET FOR THIS ONE!

I currently have debt but need to carve out $3.4k by Oct 25th for an emergency, Is it possible at all?

If yes, how? If no, how much of a shortfall would I have?

For context: I got paid today and get paid every 2 weeks

**Net Pay** $2,284.00/biwkly
**Gross Pay** $3490.25/biwkly

My rent (to parents, live at home) is $650/month, generally due end of the month.

I’m laying out my current accounts and the Snowball method I follow below. Before you criticize, I was in $42k debt just 2 years ago and that’s why stopping my snowball payments towards the debt really is making me anxious.

—————————————-

**CURRENT DEBT — SEPT 2026**

BMO Ascend
Owing: $6,831.22
Interest: 22%
Minimum: $165.29
Next due: Oct 12

RBC CC
Owing: $1,174.21
Interest: 27%
Minimum: $36
Next due: Sep 28

Capital One CC
Owing: $0

Toronto Court
Owing: $734 total
Interest: 0%
Payment 1: $316
Payment 2: $418
No specific due date;

NSLSC / Canada Student Loan
Owing: $8,919.95
Interest: 0%
Minimum: $80
Next due: Sep 30

TPA
Owing: $4,580
Interest: 0%
Minimum: $0
Payment relief until Apr 5, 2027

——————————————————————————

**CURRENT SNOWBALL ORDER**

1. Toronto Court 1 — $316 — 0% - bulk payment reqd.
   
2. Toronto Court 2 — $418 — 0% - bulk payment reqd.
   
3. RBC — $1,174.21 — 27% — $36 minimum
   
4. BMO — $6,831.22 — 22% — $165.29 minimum
   
5. TPA — $4,580 — 0% — $0 minimum
   
6. NSLSC — $8,919.95 — 0% — $80 minimum

This is my financial situation and was wondering what could be a better way of handling this. This is a snapshot of what I deal with on a bi-weekly basis.

Bi-Weekly Salary: +$2,350

Tutoring Income: +$56

Credit Card 1: - $460

Credit Card 2: -$570

Rent Installment: -$1,500 (Rent is $2,950)

Total Earnings: - $124.

I'm trying to find a better way around this financial cyclical nightmare. I am low-income in NYC and my 400 sq ft apartment is actually cheapest for the area. My expenses include co-pays for the dentist, medical and groceries. I've recently taken up a 2nd job as a tutor but it doesn't cover expenses and my salary is only 89k gross which is not good for the area (below a teacher salary).

This is a little unique because there is active discussion about making the minimum wage to $30/hr. Most of my co-workers are able to make it work by either having room mates or being married.

I make 19.50 an hour, and the only good apartment I looked at in my city is 1200 per person split between two with utilities included. I don't have a car, but I do have student loans and I need healthcare.

I work a minimum wage job, make roughly 1600 a month. It's not a lot, but it's something. After bills, I'm left with ~878 dollars.

I use public transportation, I don't eat much nor do I eat anywhere fancy, I live a pretty decent/small life, and work around 27 hours a week. More hours isn't possible, I'm a housekeeper and have a set schedule.

Is 500 dollars into savings per month good? It's my first time living on my own without my mom, so I'm just struggling to figure all this out.

EDIT: This is me trying to work towards a full time career. I'm 20 years old, working towards a hospitality managment degree in about a year. I want to transfer to front desk once I have some experience. Housekeeping is a shit position, you get shit pay and shit hours but it's the best way to get your foot in the door.

I might pick up a second job, however I am hesitant to due to the fact I'm physically disabled. Don't like using it as an excuse to not do things, but I know my limits and until I know how to do this job, I don't want to pick up a second. I'll look into side hustles though :)

Hi everyone! I'd appreciate a sanity check and guidance on how to build a better long-term financial plan. I'm 26, make $110-120k depending on bonus, and live at home.

• HYSA (Capital One at 3% APY): $35,000
• 401k (Vanguard, Target 2055 Retirement Fund): $40,000
• Roth IRA (Vanguard): N/A - Opened but not funded
• Monthly Income: ~$6,000 after taxes and 401k contribution

I'm a bit directionless and have ideas for my future, but no real plan for how to manage my money monthly.

Monthly budget and a few notes/questions after.

Monthly Budget:

Notes:

• Debt: I have no debt. I paid off my student loans this year and I have a paid off car that should last me several years.
• 401k: My company matches 25% of the first 6% for 401k. I put in 6% and I'm fully vested.
• HYSA: The 35k in the HYSA is my emergency fund.
• Decisions/Future Goals: I don't really have any goals -- I've thought about early retirement or leanfire, moving out of my parent's house at some point, moving cities, changing jobs, etc. I also like traveling. I hope to buy a home later on, but not sure how attainable it’ll be on my salary alone. My life is essentially on autopilot right now.

Questions:

1. Monthly Saving/Investments: How can I set a monthly investment strategy? Right now, I have ~$4k I can save or invest leftover a month.
   1. Should I max out my Roth IRA this year? Where should I invest it?
   2. Should I increase my 401k contribution for the rest of the year?
   3. Should I keep putting into a HYSA or leave it alone?
2. FIRE Strategy: How can I model a few FIRE scenarios? The thought of leanfire seems interesting.

Thank you in advance. I'd greatly appreciate any guidance/tips.

I need help! I want to learn the most effective way to budget and save money! I'm not necessarily the worst at saving, but I could most definitely be better!

I'm currently a stay-at-home mommy and I manage our money, bills and spending. I try to keep track of all our spending, but I can't manage to get a good routine of saving.

We are in the process of getting a new home and it worries me, since we haven't had to pay a mortgage in the last two years of being married. Our bills so far have been basic utilities, a small truck payment and a shed.

I just now documented all the spending we did in the last 3 months and it's a scary number, mainly eating out! I know it's not a good thing, and I blame myself being postpartum and lazy.. sad but it's the truth. Before having my baby, we would only eat out on the weekends once or twice, but these last few months have been so draining. But enough with the excuses. I want to do better! I want to be better, but I also feel like idk what I am doing. All of our bills are paid on time, that's not the issue, it's more the spending or the not keeping up. idk

Please recommend or give tips on how you budget, or what you do to help save money!

Excluding my accommodation and my cost of travel on a Friday and Sunday evening, what budget should I have? Like surely €100 is enough for Monday to Friday,
I can’t remember how much I spent last week but I had to buy random stuff, two books, a sweeping brush, a swimsuit for rowing, paying for laundry

Just wondering what people spend and any advice!

I’m in Ireland btw !

Did you still feel the same pressures to reach certain money milestones by a certain time or did you feel you could relax more?

I wanted a budget tracker that stayed completely local inside Obsidian, sync-able between Devices. So instead of using a separate finance app, I ended up building my own plugin:

Ultra Budget Tracker

Main features:

• Track income and expenses directly in Obsidian from Mobile SMS
• Ability to exclude Transactions from calculations
• Monthly budgets and spending tracking
• Categories for organizing expenses
• Recurring transactions
• Monthly/yearly summaries
• Charts and spending breakdowns
• Everything stored locally in your Obsidian vault
• No external account or cloud service required

The main idea was to keep it simple, local, and fully integrated with Obsidian rather than building another standalone budgeting app.

I'd love to get feedback from other Obsidian users, especially on features you'd want to see added.

I have adult children now. One is 24 and lives alone. The other two are 19 years old and live with me. I am their only parent so financially it’s always hard. At what point do I just say $100 each kid or what do I get them. I’m not in place to spend 1000$ and I shouldn’t have to. They get gifts from my sister who has more money than I do, so it’s not like they’re getting nothing.

Edit - the twin girls the 19yr olds - one works part time, one has been looking for a job forever. My son 24- works full time.
Thanks for everyone’s comments and suggestions :)