How Opening Multiple Bank Accounts Helped Me Manage My Money Better

I am good at many things, but managing my money isn't always one of them. My New Year's resolution is to be more financially responsible, but the truth is I've been working on it for a while. One of the most useful strategies I devised is using multiple bank accounts to budget. Here's why (and how) I do it, and why it might work for you, too.

Different bank accounts slow me down and help me see where my money is going

In the same way I use a variety of Google accounts to carry out different kinds of work in dedicated browsers, I use a few different bank accounts to divide my money, though I use "bank account" to describe a few things that might not technically be bank accounts. Two are traditional ones, one through the bank I grew up with in my hometown and another through Chase. The other two are digital, my Venmo and Chime accounts. For all four, I have an app, a debit card, and, crucially, a plan.

For my regular paychecks, I elected to have my payouts be disbursed 70/30 between the account with the bank back home and my Chime account, respectively, though portions from both are also automatically earmarked for savings. Money I earn from teaching spin classes goes into Chase, as does money I earn from personal projects or freelancing. Money in Venmo is just regular money in Venmo, acquired when someone pays me back for something or I occasionally—but rarely—transfer some in there. "Serious" expenses, like bills, groceries, and student loans, pull straight from the account I've had back home since I got my first job in tenth grade. I leave that debit card out of my wallet most of the time so I don't even touch it unless it's an emergency. The 30% of my regular paycheck that hits the Chime account is spent on things that are fun, like personal upkeep and daily Dunkin' runs. The spin class money in the Chase account is for boring needs, like transit and laundry. Every two weeks or so, I assess what, if anything, is left over in the less serious ones and, if I feel inclined, move some to Venmo, which is designated only for frivolity, like a night out. If there's not much money in the frivolity account, I don't go (or at least I go with a firm budget in mind). Finally, if there's a big expense I'd like to pay for but don't want to decimate one account or the other for it, I move a little from all the accounts into Venmo.

Why this strategy works for me

"But Lindsey," you may say, "You have the same amount of money whether it's in four accounts or one. Why bother with all this?" Well, because I'm bad at budgeting, that's why. If I had one single account and opened my app on payday to see all my money in one place, I'd go a little hog wild without remembering to plan ahead for needs at different levels of severity. Opening four accounts, seeing four different amounts, and having a better idea of precisely how much I have available to spend for each category makes me think a little more and puts up a little buffer to stop me from waltzing into Sephora without a care in the world.

Some people do this with their savings and checking accounts, which are both linked to the same bank account. That's fine... for those people. I tried that once. It didn't take much convincing from the devil on my shoulder to transfer money right back out of savings into checking with one tap. Transferring it between different institutions is not difficult, per se, but it requires a little more effort than toggling between savings and checking, and that split-second effort is enough to get me to pause and rethink my bad idea.

There have really been no downsides to this besides needing a wallet with a substantial number of pockets. All the cards except for the "serious" one are linked up to my Apple Pay, anyway, and the only issue there is I have to be more diligent about not letting myself use them for purposes other than the ones I've assigned to them just because it's convenient. For someone who's good at budgeting and managing their money, this probably isn't entirely necessary, but if you read even a word of this and related to me, consider it. The accounts were all easy to set up, the debit cards were all free with the accounts, and since I implemented this strategy, I have never found myself in a position where I don't have enough money to cover the things I need and the things I want just because I went a momentarily numb in the brain on payday.