Honestly, Iām totally in love with Pots! Mine are as follows:
Daily Allowance (Once my wages are paid, any money left that hasnāt been ringfenced in to another pot goes in here. I then transfer myself Ā£10 every day in to my main account as my spending money. Any of that Ā£10 not spent gets rolled over - so the less I spend each day, the more it builds and the better I can then feel when I do want to make a big purchase.)
Save the Change.
Food.
Bills.
Gifts.
Tuition. (Iām self funding myself through a distance learning degree)
Tattoo fund.
Adventures. (At the end of every month, anything left in my daily allowance pot and half of whatās in my main account goes in here.)
Each pot aside from daily allowance, adventures and save the change, Iāve written in the description of the pot how much I need to put in to each month. I withdraw from them as and when I need to cover whatever that specific pot is for. Itās a lot of manual work currently, but Iāve never felt so in control of my money before, or with such ease. Having everything in one place rather than multiple current and savings accounts everywhere is a lot easier for me, even if there is more manual work involved to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Replacement retainers (pots inspired me to save for this after 2 years of cracked retainers)
Rent Deposit (thanks someone on this forum for reminding me lol)
Masters degree (crying even thinking about saving for this)
Summer School (almost got to my target here yay!)
PHD (hahahahahha!!! hilariously unachievable)
Savings (not used like a savings account, more like a piggybank)
Thames Path Challenge
Travelling
Copenhagen World Pride 2020
Tattoo II
Some of these are clearly long-term (I donāt wanna even think about saving for my MAā¦) It would be great to make more pots, especially since during term I could add āRentā āFoodā āArt Suppliesā and āExhibition Fundsā pots which relate to my degree. I also want to add in āGerman lessonsā. The pots all add up fast. The thing that would be amazingly helpful would be the ability to add target dates, amounts, and notes for each pot. Eg, Ā£200 for retainers by August (Note: call orthodontist to find out exact cost), Ā£60 for art supplies by September (Note: -list of supplies-) etc. (To the person asking about why not use general savings account - personally I have a good interest rate on my current savings account but the amount I can put in is limited, these pots are majorly convenient because I can divide up things as soon as I get my loans through and am more secure in my spending, and most are short term and so wouldnāt be in my saving account long enough to make a difference)
I have 3 at the moment as that is all that I need for now.
One is a stash for safe keeping as I donāt like to keep too much in my main account in case of card fraud. Iām sure Monzo wont hesitate to get the money back to me but easier to keep some aside.
Another is for āirregular expensesā - one off yearly bills like insurances or things like Amazon Prime. I put some aside each month for this.
The other is for my main savings goal right now which is a soon to be born baby!
I found savings in a pot far too accessible and so now use a completely different external savings account to avoid having the money visible and from dipping into it.
Maybe a hidden pot, in which you have to click a link in an email or something to access, would be a good idea?
