So, you have heard all the buzz about sinking funds and you have decided to start using them. Now, what? How do you track sinking funds to make sure you are making progress and staying on target?
Guess, what?! There is a super easy (and fun!) way to keep track of your sinking funds to ensure you are just killing it month after month.
If you are thinking, “What is this girl talking about?!” Then you need to start with:
5 Reasons You Need Sinking Funds
13 Sinking Funds Categories You Need in Your Budget
How to Effectively Use Sinking Funds
Now, if you are all set with your sinking funds, meaning you know what they are, you have your categories ready, and you know exactly how much you need to save each month, it is time to get rolling!!
I recommend downloading our super helpful (& FREE) Sinking Funds Tracking Sheet to follow step-by-step every month. You can find that at the bottom of this post.
You do not have to have the download for this to be successful. Any piece of paper will work too!
When you decide what your sinking funds will be, you will then figure out:
- The total amount you will need when the expense comes up
- How many months you have until the fund will be needed
- How much you need to save per month to have your fund completed in time
If you are serious about using sinking funds to eliminate the stress of those infrequent expected expenses sabotaging your budget, you should definitely be using a monthly budget. Your sinking funds will then need to be added to your budget. You will put every fund under the appropriate category.
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Once you have that in place, you can also start tracking your sinking fund progress every month.
Either using a piece of paper or our FREE sinking fund tracking sheet (you can download below), you will need to make a column for each of these:
- The name of the fund (“Sinking Fund”)
- How much is in the fund at the beginning of the month (“Starting $”)
- How much is added to the fund for the month (“+”)
- How much is spent from the fund for the month (“–”)
- What the new total is for the fund after the month is over (“End of Month”)
You will have one of these sheets per month to add on to your monthly budget sheets.
Every month you will fill out your sheet that will also coincide with your monthly budget.
Here is an example:
Your Monthly Budget will be filled out, the areas circled in red are likely sinking funds you may have. Add all of your sinking funds to your monthly budget forms and fill it out appropriately.
As the month goes on, you will update your sinking funds tracking sheet. Then at the end of the month, you will finalize it.
This will keep your budget and sinking funds aligned so you can track your progress every month.
It won’t matter where you are keeping your money for your sinking funds. You can put all the money into one account and your sheet will keep track of it for you! If you want to be fancy (this is how I operate) you can have separate accounts for every sinking fund. No matter which you choose to do, the Sinking Funds Tracker Sheet will be your record of exactly how much money you have available for each sinking fund.
Now you are officially ready to conquer sinking funds, take the stress out of your budgeting and eliminate your unexpected expenses!
READY TO GET STARTED? DOWNLOAD OUR FREE SINKING FUNDS TRACKER SHEET NOW!
Get instant access to our free library of awesome tools to help you start Mastering your Budget, Conquering your Debt and Planning for your Expenses when you sign up for our email list!
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