Sinking Funds List: What to Save For and How Much Per Paycheck

By Deskline Digital · Published Oct 10, 2026 · All dollar amounts are hypothetical examples.

A sinking fund is money you set aside a little at a time for an expense you know is coming, just not every month. Think car registration, holiday gifts or the annual software renewal. It's different from an emergency fund, which covers things you can't predict. Sinking funds cover the predictable-but-irregular expenses that otherwise "show up right before payday and mess up my plans."

Below is a sinking funds list grouped by category, followed by how to size each one and a worked example of turning the list into a single per-paycheck amount. You won't need every category. Pick the ones that actually happen in your life.

The sinking funds list

Car and transportation

• Car registration and inspection. Usually yearly and easy to look up.
• Car insurance, if you pay every six or twelve months (often cheaper than monthly).
• Car maintenance: oil changes, tires, brakes, wipers.
• Car repairs. Not predictable in timing, but very predictable over a year if you drive an older car.
• Next car down payment. A long-term fund that makes the next purchase smaller.
• Transit pass, if you buy yearly or semester passes.

Home

• Renters or homeowners insurance, if paid annually.
• Property tax, if it isn't included in your mortgage payment.
• Home maintenance and repairs: appliances, plumbing, HVAC servicing.
• Moving costs and deposits, if a lease ends in the coming year.
• Furniture and household replacements: mattress, vacuum, bedding.

Health

• Deductibles and copays. Look at your plan's deductible and what you spent last year.
• Dental and vision: cleanings, glasses, contacts.
• Prescriptions that cost more early in the plan year.

Family and people

• Holidays: gifts, food, travel, decorations.
• Birthdays and celebrations: gifts, parties, weddings you're attending.
• Kids: school supplies, field trips, sports fees, camps, clothes as they grow.
• Pets: vet checkups, vaccines, grooming, boarding.

Personal and lifestyle

• Clothing and shoes. Work clothes, a winter coat.
• Haircuts and personal care, if they're spaced out.
• Annual subscriptions and memberships: streaming billed yearly, warehouse clubs, software, professional dues.
• Technology: replacing a phone or laptop when it dies.
• Vacation and travel.

Money and work

• Taxes, if you're self-employed or have side income with no withholding. See budgeting on irregular income.
• Bank or card annual fees.

How to size each fund

Give every fund a target amount and a due date. Here's where to get them:

• Known bills (registration, insurance, subscriptions): use last year's bill and add a little in case it goes up.
• Seasonal spending (holidays, back-to-school): look at what you actually spent last year in your bank statements, not what you meant to spend.
• Wear-and-tear costs (car repairs, home maintenance, tech): pick a yearly amount based on your past few years, and give it a date 12 months from now. Then roll it forward each year.

Then the math is: (target − already saved) ÷ paychecks left before the due date. Our guide how much to put in sinking funds goes into detail on counting paychecks correctly, catching up on late funds, and tracking it all.

Worked example: a beginner's five funds

Here's a hypothetical starter set for someone paid biweekly. For simplicity, every fund here is treated as a yearly cost, saved across 26 paychecks:

$3,120 a year in irregular costs feels like a lot when it arrives as a series of surprises. As $120 a paycheck, it's just another line in the budget. That's the main idea behind sinking funds.

Notice the per-paycheck column is not the monthly amount divided by two. $260 ÷ 2 = $130, which would over-save by $10 a check, because there are 26 paychecks in a year, not 24. Over-saving isn't a disaster, but when money is tight, the right number matters.

If some funds are due sooner than a year out, the per-paycheck amount for those is higher until they're paid, then it drops. That's where a calculator helps: it counts the actual paychecks left before each due date.

What if you can't afford them all?

Start with the fund that hurts most when it's missing, usually the one that has ended up on a credit card before. For many people that's car repairs or holidays. Fund that one fully, then add the next. Even partial funding helps: if the $1,200 car fund only reaches $600 by the time the brakes go, that's still $600 not on a card.

A 3-paycheck month is a good time to jump-start several funds at once. See 3-paycheck months.

Where to keep sinking fund money

• One savings account, tracked on paper or a spreadsheet. Simple. You keep a running total per fund.
• Several savings accounts or "buckets." Some banks let you split one account into labeled sub-savings. It's easy to see but more to manage.
• Cash envelopes for small, near-term funds like gifts. Not ideal for large amounts.

Whatever you choose, keep it separate from everyday checking so the money doesn't look available to spend.

Common sinking fund mistakes

• Borrowing from one fund for another without writing it down. Moving money between funds is fine, since it's all your money, but if you take $150 from "car repairs" for a birthday, write it down and plan to pay it back. Otherwise the car fund looks bigger than it is.
• Treating a fund like a spending target. If the holiday fund has $900, you don't have to spend $900. Leftovers can roll into next year or go to another fund.
• Setting it and forgetting it. Prices change. Check your targets once a year, ideally when the bill arrives, and adjust the per-paycheck amount.
• Using the monthly figure ÷ 2 on biweekly pay. It over-saves slightly, as shown above. Use ÷ 26 for yearly costs, or count the actual paychecks before the due date.
• Starting too many at once. Twelve funds of $8 each is harder to keep up with than three funds that actually cover your biggest surprises.

The goal isn't a perfect spreadsheet. It's getting to the point where a known expense shows up and you already have the money for it.