this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

A reader left a comment on my post about one way I intend to save my money next year asking what type of account I put the car money into. It's a savings account with ING Direct and I thought I'd turn my response to her into a post.

The Tall One and I have had accounts with ING for nearly six years now. We started out with a 12 month CD. We chose ING because, at the time, their rates surpassed anything we could find. After the year was up, we rolled over that money to a traditional savings account and within the last year added on a checking account with them.

What I referred to as sub accounts are really just additional accounts. Each one has its own account number. It's just very easy to transfer money between the accounts and INGs interface allows you to easily view them all at once so that it doesn't seem like they are all individual accounts, to me at least.

After we moved into our house, TTO and I determined a budget to spend on house related things. We put half of this amount into an ING account for him and the other half into one for me. At the end of each month, we'd add up how much was spent and transfer that amount out of our respective accounts and into either our checking or general savings account (both ING accounts). Now the money is gone in mine and I recently changed the nickname of it (it took me all of about three seconds) from 'Alison' to 'Car Expenses'.

We have a checking account with a local bank. This allows TTO to conveniently deposit his paychecks there. Once he's done that, most of it gets transferred out and into our ING checking account. It takes about three days to get there. What I plan to do this year is at that point take a pre-determined amount out of the checking and put it into the Car Expenses account.

We use our ING accounts for nearly all of our banking needs. With an ING checking account, you can electronically send payments or ING will send a paper check (and cover the expense of postage). We've done both and have never had any troubles. You also get a debit card that you can use to make purchases and to access your checking account funds from ATMs everywhere.

ING has been just perfect for us. And since we've discovered how to use multiple accounts to assist with our budgeting, I love it even more than I did before. If you'd like to open your own account with at least $250, I'd love to refer you (you'll get a $25 bonus and I'll get $10), just send me an email. I'll send you a link that you can use. I don't need to know anything but your first name and an email address. If you have less than $250, you can still open an account (there is no minimum), you just aren't eligible for the $25 bonus.