How to Avoid Surprise Bills

Even though so many of us pay a mortgage every month, or car insurance, home insurance and property taxes that are due every year, they still come as a shock sometimes, and can set us back pretty far financially if we're not expecting those expenses.

One of the best ways you can prepare for those expenses is through the concept of "out of sight, out of mind". If you have direct deposit from an employer, or even if you don't - setting up a separate bank account can be the best place to accrue money every month for when those big "surprise" bills come due.

The best way to do this is to add up all of your big items into how much you pay each year and calculate your yearly total amount and then divide by however many paychecks you receive. That's the amount you want to put in a separate bank account each month. Download our free large expense calculator template!

If you still like to see all of your money in one place, some of our favorite banks that allow you to add buckets are SoFi Bank, and Current. Both banks are online only banks that provide higher interest rates, so while your money is waiting for those big bills, you'll also end up with some extra earnings.

• SoFi offers 4.6% APY compounded monthly (interest paid every month) and you can put money into up to 20 savings vaults. Click this link to sign up for an account and get a $25 bonus and $300 when you set up direct deposit.

• Current offers 4% APY compounded daily (interest is paid every day) and you can put money into up to 3 savings pods. Click this link to sign up for an account and get a $50 bonus.

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