Comments on: Handling the First Flush

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 25 May 2011 12:30:05 +0000

I use automatic transfers from my Wells Fargo bank to ING direct. ING allows you to transfer money monthly, bi-weekly or on a specific day. I have it taken out every other friday which is when i get paid and the money is in my account by Monday. Almost all banks have this option, Bank of America also has a transfers plan that is reasonalbe but i am not so happy to own their checking account. They want a direct deposit on a checking otherwise they charge 8.95 a month, you have the option to go e-banking which is free. Hope this helps.
Annie.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:47:44 +0000

I took out a $25K loan a few years ago at just 2% interest.

While I did use it to pay off a decent amount of debt, I also squandered a decent amount as well.

Its so easy to think you’ll just invest a windfall of cash or pay off all your debt, but to put it into practice is much more difficult!

By: ChrisD

ChrisD — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:31:51 +0000

When I got my first job it was abroad. I moved to Germany with 200EUR, a job and accommodation provided (not free, but no urgency to pay it in advance). Paying the deposit on the flat, (spread over three months) buying and building a whole new kitchen (flats in Germany usually come without them) and all my furniture kept me on a very tight budget for some months (my workplace also gave me a short term loan of two weeks wages and paid my first two weeks as soon as I arrived). Managing to achieve all that without savings is one of my prouder moments. Once all that was achieved I was well established in frugal spending.

By: Marta

Marta — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:17:06 +0000

That is great practical advise. We’ve moved every 1-3 years since marriage 10 years ago and every place has a new income attached. That first year is always so stressful coming up with a good budget and knowing how those paychecks will stretch in that city’s cost of living (like power, gas, food, etc…). Also the two checking accounts thing is SO HELPFUL. My husband does not like to be bothered with understanding the concept of reconciling a checking account, or budgeting. Thankfully he gives me those responsibilities and tries to live within them, but once we gave him a separate account to spend from (gas, extras) it helped me so much. We are on a tight tight budget and I can’t have surprises!!!! Before we did this we relied on a “bounce proof” checking account attached to a line of credit. Once we moved to a town that had no banks that would give you one without going a year without a deficit. Those two years were tough and full of lots of extra charges due to poor communication between my husband and I on spending. We were never able to achieve one month, much less 12 without a deficit. It was such a waste. After we had the two accounts we’ve very rarely had a surprise. And neither are “bounce proof”.

Thanks for the advise in this post, it will come in handy after our next move in 14 months to a new higher paying job. I’d love to live at the same spending level, but eradicate medical school and educational debt as quick as possible!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 22 May 2011 03:15:38 +0000

Katie,

I do exactly what you’re talking about with my ING checking account. You have the option of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. If you get paid let’s say on May 25th, you can tell ING Direct to start a transfer to savings on the 25 or 26th (just in case) and then bi weekly after that.

By: kristine

kristine — Sat, 21 May 2011 23:31:24 +0000

I jiggle the handle.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:55:55 +0000

#1 Katie – we use Wells Fargo, and their automatic transfer scheduling options include ‘every other week’, where the account owner selects the start date. So if my next payday was, say, May 27th, I could schedule automatic transfers beginning May 30th, timed every other week. You can also easily cancel one transfer in a series without canceling/restarting the entire series. My guess is that just about any large bank has this option – if not online do-it-yourself, then if you contact your bank to set it up.

By: kjc

kjc — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:08:36 +0000

OMG I thought it was going to be a post about toilet training!

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:28:21 +0000

I have a question about automatic transfers. Does anyone know if there’s a reliable way to set these up if you get paid bi-weekly instead of on a particular day of the month? I’d love to automatically set it up so that, say, the Monday after I get paid, several automatic transfers go through but I’ve never really figured out whether this is feasible.