Upcoming Expenses
Name
Amount
Due Date
Monthly Sinking Fund Total
$0Add an expense to get started.
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List the big, irregular expenses you know are coming — Christmas, car insurance, a vet visit — and this tool works out exactly how much to set aside each month so the full bill never catches you off guard.
Upcoming Expenses
Monthly Sinking Fund Total
$0Add an expense to get started.
A sinking fund is money you set aside gradually, a little each month, to cover a specific expense that isn't monthly but is completely predictable — an annual insurance premium, a holiday season, a car that'll need new tires eventually. Instead of that bill arriving as a surprise and wrecking a month's budget, the cost gets spread out and paid down slowly, in advance, on your terms.
These two get mixed up constantly, but the distinction is simple: an emergency fund covers what you can't predict — a layoff, a medical bill, a car accident. A sinking fund covers what you can predict, just not on a tidy monthly schedule. If you already know the expense and roughly when it's due, it belongs in a sinking fund, not your emergency reserve.
Sinking funds pair naturally with physical cash envelopes: each fund is just another envelope you top up every payday instead of spending down, until its due date arrives. If you're new to the envelope method itself, our Cash Stuffing 101 guide covers the basics, and the Zero-Based Budget Planner can help you find room in your monthly numbers for these contributions alongside your regular categories.
Already budgeting monthly?
Use the Zero-Based Budget Planner to fit these contributions into your existing categories.
A sinking fund is money set aside gradually, in small monthly amounts, to cover a specific expense you know is coming — like an annual insurance bill, holiday shopping, or a vet visit — so the full cost never has to come out of one paycheck at once.
An emergency fund covers expenses you can't predict — a job loss, a medical bill, a car breaking down. A sinking fund covers expenses you can predict, like an annual premium or a holiday season, just not on a monthly schedule. One is for the unexpected; the other is for the expected-but-irregular.
There's no fixed number — most people start with two or three for their biggest irregular costs, like car maintenance or holiday spending, and add more categories once the habit feels manageable rather than starting with a long list all at once.
Yes — sinking funds pair naturally with cash stuffing. Each sinking fund can simply be its own labeled envelope that you top up monthly instead of spending down, until its due date arrives.
Update the amount or date in the calculator and your required monthly contribution recalculates immediately — it's normal for these numbers to shift slightly as a due date gets closer or a quoted price changes.