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After I posted how I cut my nail budget from $1,680 to $360 with a beauty sinking fund, I started thinking about what else I was putting on my credit card.

It was a lot. House repairs, car insurance, Christmas – all of it was going on the card in one swipe.

So, I made 5 sinking funds. $150 a month total. This year they kept me from putting over $4,000 on my credit card in last-minute charges and interest.

Here is exactly what they are, how much is in each, and how I track them.

What else do you sinking fund for? How much do you put in each? How do you track it without messing up?”

I do 5 sinking funds. $150 a month total. This year they kept me from putting over $4,000 on my credit card in last-minute panic charges and interest.

Here is exactly what they are, how much is in each, and how I track them.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I use the Personal Budget Planner from Digital Planning Studio to track all 5 of my funds. If you decide to get it through my link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I actually use.

What is a Sinking Fund? Quick Answer

It’s not an emergency fund.

Emergency fund = for things you don’t expect.

Sinking fund = for bills you KNOW are coming but you pretend surprise you. Car insurance every 6 months, Christmas in December, car inspection, that $80 air filter for the house.

If you don’t have a sinking fund for it, it ends up on your credit card.

That’s what was happening to me until this year.

How I Actually Track My 5 Funds

I tried envelopes for 3 months. I tried a notebook. I kept stealing $20 from my House envelope to cover Beauty because I couldn’t see the totals clearly.

What finally worked was switching to a Google Sheets planner.

The one I use is called Personal Budget Planner from Digital Planning Studio. It’s not called a “sinking fund tracker” – it’s a general budget planner. What I do is I created 5 custom savings categories inside it for my 5 funds.

AFFILIATE LINK #1 – PUT HERE (Early, after you introduce tool):

I get asked what I use – this is it: Google Sheets – You get a PDF file with the link to instantly copy it to your Google Sheets. That’s what I use for my 5 funds.

Here is why I stayed with it, based on what it actually says on the page:

✔️ Smart Income Allocation – Each month I can see how my $150 paycheck is split. $50 to House, $40 to Car, etc. I can see if I actually did it.

✔️ Automated Insights – At the end of the month I get a clear breakdown of my budget performance. Did I put $50 in House, or did I only put $30 because I overspent on takeout? It shows me.

✔️ Interactive Summary Dashboard – This is the reason I kept it. I can instantly visualize my trends. Is my Car fund actually growing toward that $780 insurance bill in December or am I behind?

✔️ Full History & Analysis – All my months and years are in three dynamic spreadsheets. So, I can see December last year vs December this year and see I didn’t put Christmas on my card this time.

✔️ Easy to Use & Customizable – I could add my 5 fund names as categories. It adapts to what I need.

That’s it. It doesn’t send me reminders or auto-calculate dates for me. It shows me the dashboard and the truth, so I don’t lie to myself. That was enough to fix my spending.

My 5 Sinking Funds – Exact Breakdown

1. House Fund – $50/month – Saved $600 this year
This is for the boring house stuff: air filters, plumber call, curtains, light bulbs. Last year every single one of these went on my credit card. This year I had cash. This is the envelope you see in my photo above.

2. Car Fund – $40/month – Saved $1,560 this year
This is my most important one. My car insurance is $780 every 6 months – June and December. Before, I would panic in June. Now I put $40 away for 12 months and the $780 is there. Plus, oil changes and inspection. This fund alone saved me from $1,560 in credit card charges.

3. Beauty Fund – $30/month – Saved $1,320 this year
You saw this one. I was spending $140 a month at the nail salon. Now I budget $30 and do press-ons with gel at home. My nails still look salon-good. Full breakdown with UV-safe methods here: [LINK TO YOUR BEAUTY SINKING FUND POST]

4. Christmas / Birthdays – $20/month – Saved $480 this year
$20 x 12 = $240 for Christmas gifts plus birthdays. Last year I spent $600 on Christmas in one swipe on December 15th. This year I had $480 cash saved and I stayed under.

5. Vacation Fund – $10/month – Saved $120 this year
The smallest one but the most fun. $10 feels like nothing, but $10 x 12 is $120. That’s a cheap weekend away or a nice dinner out without guilt. It stops me from saying “we can’t afford a break.”

Total: $150/month that I plan for. Because I planned it, I didn’t pay interest. That’s how $1,800 in planned savings actually saved me over $4,000 in debt.

How I track it: I have all 5 listed as savings categories in this Google Sheet so the dashboard shows me if I’m behind on Car before I overspend Beauty.

How to Start Today If You Only Have $10

You don’t need $150 to start. You need $10.

Pick ONE fund. Not five. Pick the bill that stressed you out last month.

For most people, that’s Car Insurance or Christmas.

1. Open your bank app and create a separate savings account. Label it that name. Capital One and Ally let you do this for free and label them “Car Insurance” or “Beauty.”
2. Put $10 in it this paycheck.
3. That’s it. You started.

I started with just Car Insurance. Just that one fund saved me $780.

You can track it in a notebook with this table:

House: $___
Car: $___
Beauty: $___
Christmas: $___
Vacation: $___

Fill it in each payday.

When I wanted to stop doing it by hand and see it in a dashboard, I switched to the Spread Sheet I linked above.

FAQ

Is a sinking fund the same as savings?
No. Savings is general. A sinking fund is labeled. $50 that is labeled “Car Insurance due Dec 12” is harder to spend on takeout than $50 in general savings.

Can I do this if I live paycheck to paycheck?
Yes. Start with $5 per fund. I started with $10 for one fund. The amount matters less than the habit of not putting it on a card.

What budget planner do you use for the dashboard?
The Personal Google Sheet you get a PDF with the download link. That’s what I use to see all 5 funds at once.

You can also access FREE BUDGETING TEMPLATES HERE.