You have one chequing account where money comes in and goes out, and you never quite know what you can actually afford. Here's how to fix it.
In This Article
- The Conversations I Keep Having
- The Problem Isn't Willpower
- What is a Money System?
- Related Articles
Every month, $4,200 hits Khalil's chequing account.
And every month, rent comes out, as does groceries, gas, and his gym membership. He pays for occasional dinners with friends and whatever else comes up.
Whenever he's prompted to check how he's doing, he logs into his bank. The balance is always different. $1,200 one time. $5,400 another. $3,800 the next.
Six months into his first engineering job in Winnipeg, making $70,000 a year with full benefits, Khalil is doing everything right. Except for one problem: he doesn’t really know where his money is going.
He wants to save for a trip overseas, maybe start investing, and increase his regular sadaqah.
But he can never quite figure out how much he should save. Or how much he can spend. Every dollar in his checking account feels simultaneously spendable and spoken for.
The Conversations I Keep Having
I have some version of this conversation almost every week.
The details change - sometimes it's a grad student, sometimes a young couple, sometimes a self-employed consultant - but the pattern is the same.
Smart, motivated Muslims who want to do well with their money and have the right instincts about it.
But when I ask them to walk me through their money system, the answer is often something like, "I have one checking account and a credit card. Money comes in, money goes out. I try to keep some left over for savings."
What they describe isn’t a money system. It’s a money situation.
A system runs on its own. It has structure and automation. It presents you with clear questions and with a roadmap to consistent answers.
A situation demands your constant attention. It lacks structure and automation. It leaves you unsure what questions to ask and forces you to patch together inconsistent answers.
And situations don't get better when you earn more. They just get more expensive.
- The person making $70,000 can't tell if they can afford a $400 wedding gift.
- The person making $150,000 can't tell if they can afford the $8,000 family vacation.
- The person making $250,000 can't tell if they should put $30,000 toward their mortgage or max out their TFSA or help their parents with a major expense.
Same problem, bigger numbers. No system to answer the question, What money is for this month, and what money is for the future?
Without that clarity, every financial decision, regardless of the dollar amount, requires the same guesswork and uncertainty about whether you're making the right call.
Money situations are exhausting. They require constant vigilance and a thousand small decisions: Can I afford this? Should I transfer to savings? How much should I keep in chequing? Did I already spend too much this month?
Some people carry this as a low-grade anxiety that sits in the background: a persistent uncertainty about whether you're doing okay or quietly falling behind.
Others cope by avoiding it entirely. They stop checking their balances, ignore their credit card statements, and hope everything works out. The anxiety doesn't go away. It just moves underground.
The Problem Isn't Willpower
If you recognize that tension, you might assume the problem is you. That you're not disciplined enough. That you just need to budget better or track your spending more carefully.
But that advice misses the fundamental issue: you can't "just" do anything when your money is structurally set up to confuse you.
There's a reason managing money feels like driving in the fog for many of us. The financial system benefits from your confusion.
Banks want your money sitting in one account, available for spending.
Credit card companies want you unsure whether you can afford something, because "just charge it" becomes the path of least resistance. Buy Now, Pay Later schemes exist specifically to exploit the gap between what you want now and what you can afford now.
What is a Money System?
A money system answers one question automatically: What money is for this month, and what money is for the future?
It does this through structure (separate accounts), rules (money moves on a schedule), and automation (so you're not constantly deciding).
When it works, whenever you wonder "Can I afford this?" or "How much do I need to save for this trip?" the answers are clear. No guesswork.
The one-account setup can't answer that question because every dollar looks the same.
But money has different jobs:
- Some money needs to pay this month's rent and groceries.
- Some money needs to sit quietly for six months until your car needs new tires.
- Some money needs to wait for years until you're ready to make a down payment on a house.
- Some money needs to be ready when you want to give a substantial donation or help someone in need.
The solution starts with structure. With separate accounts that reflect what your money is actually for. Not virtual envelopes or mental math. Real accounts with real boundaries.
Ask yourself: When you log onto your bank, can you tell what's for this month and what's for the future?
If the answer is no, it's time to build a system.
It starts simple: open a few more bank accounts and give each one a specific purpose
(If you're looking for free or low-fee bank account option, take a look at this list.)
Once your money has a place to go, the decisions get easier.
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Written by Farooq Maseehuddin
Farooq Maseehuddin is the founder of MuslimMoney.co, a Canadian platform dedicated to helping Muslims take control of their personal finances.
He teaches across a range of topics including budgeting, investing, financial planning, Islamic inheritance, money conversations in families, and how to teach kids about money—all through both practical tools and traditional Islamic guidance.
Farooq holds a B.Ed. and M.Ed. from the University of Alberta and has spent nearly two decades as a high school teacher and Muslim community organizer.