I'm not really a newbie but life is short and I've been looking to up my volume a bit. I have plenty of income but problem is that SO shares all my finances and it would attract too much attention to frequently pull large lumps of cash.

Was considering having my job deposit a small percentage of each paycheck to a separate account (a super secret hobby fund!) but paper trail is too risky.

What do you think? Has anyone found a clever way to fund their hobby?

for me because I control the money and pay all of the bills. So I spend what I want on what I want.

When I was married, I paid the bills and moved money around......so was undetected. One thing I did was use OUR credit card on business trips (3 night hotel bill) and the expense report was paid to a seperate account.

Seperate account doesn't always mean paper trail. It can be set up for on-line only.

Set up a cash allowance for yourself to cover things like lunches, personal items, dry cleaning, etc., and inflate the amount you actually need so that yo amass a few $$$ by the end of the month for your hobbying.

The trick is to make it believable and not arouse suspicion.

Diverting income will come back to haunt you at tax time if the SO inspects the forms.

My finances are not normally subject to scrutiny but making "large cash w/d's" is just foolish.  Around the time I started the hobby, I gradually began increasing the amount of "pocket cash" I withdrew every period.  Exact same every time & I live within it.  I don't keep the full amount in my wallet (for those wives who are prone to borrow from hubby).  I replentish as needed from my sock drawer...  yeah she knows about that too but has her own money.  But I have another squirreling place.  So any excess gets put away until I want it.  
In these days of plastic...  more purchases are getting swiped...   Keep some purchases in cash...  coffee, snacks or what ever.  
You especially don't want a cash w/d to match up to a time you were off the grid.

No it won't. You don't have to report to the IRS which account has which money..Hell you don't even have to put on your tax forms what banks you bank with or any info about your bank unless you have an interest earning account you need to report the interest on. I swear some of the silly stuff I see on here about the IRS and taxes is just absurd...

Here is what you do. Open up a second account and call it the "personal expense" account. Switch your pay check or direct direct deposit to it. OK not open up a second new account and call this one the "savings" account. Setup regular transfers of the amount you want from the personal expense account to the savings account. Tell your wife that is your direct deposit. Now, transfer a set amount from the savings account to your join checking every month to cover normal bills and expenses.

Your wife will be proud, she will think you just opened up an account to try to save some money. Don't tell her about the other one you also opened to skim off the top.

Personally I don't have to go quite that way because I have multiple sources of income. What I do is I have 3 checking accounts.

account 1 - the "business" account. This is where all the income and spending happens from my side jobs. This doubles as a savings account for me and my wife doesn't have access to it. She has no way to know if I take money out for whatever. T

account 2 - this is the join checking and where the direct deposit goes for my main w2 job.

account 3 - this is my bill pay account. I setup bill pay in advance for all my bills and transfer money here from account 2 to cover the bill pay. This way bills are always covered and if anything ever had a risk of bouncing it isn't a bill it is the every day casual spending in the join checking which I can cover with an overdraft or manual transfer from the "business" or savings account if needed.

Since I only use a small percentage of the money I put into the business account on ladies, there is no suspicion.

when you're ready for it. No fuss, no muss, but make sure you only use the ones where you don't have to use your real info to register online to get cash, or connects to your bank account.

LOL yes it does sound complicated but it really isn't. Least not for me. It isn't nearly the most complicated thing I use to keep safe from being found out Leaving zero digital foot print isn't easy but is certainly possible.

Take up a hobby. Hobbies need cash. It works for you in so many ways.

I think this is the way to go.  Already have g-dot card  but never thought to load it via direct deposit from employer... London ur a genius!

I know...LOL.