If you need to know the problems, check my last two blog entries.

http://jim.savingadvice.com/2008/09/09/rebuilding-the-ef-the...
http://jim.savingadvice.com/2008/09/08/ef-went-from-12k-to-1...

Wife and I are working every day to a solution which works.

We originally had 5 bank accounts, all joint, for various reasons.

First checking account was the one I opened when I moved here 11 years ago. Wife was added to this account around the time we moved in together, around 7 years ago. I had a savings account attached to that too. That account was at key bank.

When we sold our condo, we had a 30k check which needed to be deposited. Because of prior problems with depositing money at key (a large 5k surplus got spent without knowing what it was spent on a few years earlier), we created a new account at 5th 3rd. Part of the reason for this was 5th 3rd did not charge for electronic banking and electronic bill paying at the time. checking and savings accounts were opened.

Then 9/11 happened and there were rules about how many transactions a savings account can have, so the IRA deposits (which were 6-7 deposits each month) were causing some 9/11 violations and account fees. So we opened a second checking account for my IRA deposits.

So the end result was 5 accounts, each getting a fraction of each paycheck to pay various bills electronicly, by check or by automated withdraw.

We now have reduced it to 2 joint accounts and each of us will also have our own savings and checking accounts with debit cards.

Part of issue with the budget was I did not have a debit card in my name, so when crises hit, I did not have access to cash.

We each deposit $20 per check into our savings accounts and our checking accounts, deposit the same amount each to one of the accounts which pays most bills, and then the rest goes to the mortgage/IRA/car payment account.

I want the items which can be repossessed or foreclosed to be withdrawn from one account (car and house payments) so we know, worst case, which bills must be paid each month.