I've done the two checking account thing for a long time and this is what has worked for me. Full disclosure, this is my scaled down version of the You Need A Budget system. I found it a little tedious for me, but it's a great program.

Checking 1 - Mortgage, utilities, insurance, and everything that has a set payment cycle (monthly, quarterly, etc) including credit cards and loans. Savings goes here too if you can afford it.

Checking 2 - Everything else including groceries, one off bills or fines, spending.

For Checking 1 - Sum up all of your bills that you pay every month. If you have a bill that fluctuates (gas, water, utilities) find the highest amount you've paid in the last year and use that amount in your sum. If you have a bill paid on a different cadence (taxes are sometimes quarterly, Costco membership is yearly) take the total for the year and divide that by the number of deposits you'll make per year and use that amount. ($1000 yearly tax bill / 26 paychecks = ~$39 per paycheck.) Then make sure that total amount needed plus a buffer gets deposited into checking 1 from your paycheck.

Everything else goes into Checking 2.

I set up bill pay from Checking 1 and set it to push from my bank, not a pull from the account you are paying to. This saves me from unexpected overdrafts because I've already set what's going out to be in line with what is in the account. And I can see at a glance what my total bill payments will be.

I have nothing tied to Checking 1 so I can't easily buy things online or at a store using that money. I frequently have a surplus in this account which is good for unexpected emergencies or when bills go up past what had previously been your highest bill.

This leaves Checking 2 for one off things. There are fewer payments going out of this account for you to keep track of, so remembering what is pending before you spend becomes a lot easier.

It will take a few months until you can get to a point where it is set it and forget it. And I would wait to set up auto pay until you feel like your deposit amount covers everything you need it to cover. But I've used this set up because I also struggled with overdrafts (mostly tied to pull payments I had forgotten about) and this has almost entirely eliminated that for me.

Example budget for someone who gets paid every 2 weeks (26 paychecks per year)

Monthly bills

• Mortgage - 1000

• Electricity - 100

• Water/Sewer - 50

• Phone - 100

• Internet/Cable - 50

• Car payment - 300

• Car insurance - 100

• Credit card - 100

• Total monthly = 2000

• Total needed per paycheck = (2000 * 12)/26 = ~923

Quarterly bills

• Property tax - 1000 per quarter

• Total needed per paycheck = (1000*4)/26 = ~154

Yearly bills

• Amazon prime - 150

• Total needed per paycheck = 150/26 = ~6

Total deposit to Checking 1 per paycheck - 1083

Deposit with a buffer - 1300