i do something similar:
i have a 3 level password list,
1st (xxxxxxxxxx) for most purposes like sites that require login, where they collect non personal compromising information
2nd (yyyyyyyyyy) sites that collect personal information, email, home banking
3rd (zzzzzzzzzz) my home server
(you could get a forth for home banking or use the 3rd for such matter)
i only need to remember these 3 passwords (i make new password regularly),
so far not completely bad but not really good either
then, i add to the password a combination that varies with the hosting site, like this:
service: gmail
user: someUser
password combination:
- 1st non vocal on service: g
- last vocal on user: e
- last non vocal on user: r
- 1st vocal on service: a
- then i concatenate one of my three passwords according with the service
my password for this service would be: gerayyyyyyyyyy or: gyeyyyyyyyyrya if you prefer to scramble it more
you could make your own combination algorithm,
mine's not exactly this either ;)
you only need to know:
- 3 passwords,
- one simple algorithm (keep it simple, it's human power that will run the algorithm)
- the service and user, which you needed any way