Wendy’s Journey: Why You Need To Separate Your Accounts Today

This is the second part of our five part series following MindShift.money member Wendy Priester as she goes through Financially Fit Bootcamp. If you’re just joining us, you can start your journey with her here.

A large part of going through the Financially Fit Bootcamp Program is admitting that what you’re doing now isn’t working.

This was especially true for me when it came to managing my bank accounts.

Like most people, I had all of my income land in my main checking account. From here, I paid for all my bills and all of my day to day expenses.

While I had a savings account, I never put money in it on a regular basis. I had some savings, but I was mostly living paycheck to paycheck.

By only having one checking account, I thought I was making my financial life easier to manage, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

I kept second guessing myself every time I went to pay for something.

Did I remember to pay my car insurance?

Do I have enough money to pay bills that are due later in the month?

What if I accidentally spent my student loan payment on groceries?

I was constantly, almost obsessively, checking my bank balance multiple times a day. It was making me feel crazy, but I didn’t know what to do about it.

The Power of Separation

When I first heard about setting up the Perfect Account Structure, I was skeptical. How was this going to help me? It seemed so complicated!

But then I realized that once I had my Perfect Account Structure in place, my money would basically organize itself. By separating my accounts, I would eliminate the vast majority of financial stress that I was currently experiencing. I didn’t need to micromanage my accounts or constantly check my balance.

My bills would be paid out of my Income Account; all my other spending would take place out of my Everyday Account. My constant worry about spending the bill money on shoes was gone.

Once I realized this, I was able to relax. All I had to do was follow the process using accounts I already had in place.

Divide and Conquer