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15 February 2010

The Cash Envelope System - HELP!

I'm looking for help as I cannot find a way that works for me. I want to use a cash and only cash for everything outside of our automatic payments. But, and it's a big BUT, I don't like having money in different places and I don't like having lots of different cash in my handbag. {I also have this thought that once money is out of the bank it stays out and never goes back!}

So if you use a cash envelope system, or a variety of it, and it works for you, please let me know how you do it. I so want to make this work.

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9 comments:

  1. I use a debit card to make my purchases. Or a credit card that is linked to my checking account to make even bigger purchases.

    I never have more than $20 cash on my person, yet I have been living on a cash basis lifestyle since 2001.

    What the diff if the money is in your home in an envelope or in the bank in an imaginary envelope? Same thing. Only, the latter is safer.
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  2. Possibly a prepaid credit card system could work for you. Consolidate your categories as much as possible and keep only the amount you need to spend on prepaid credit cards. Takes a bit of effort, but keep you from carrying cash around and keep all your money separate.
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  3. Well, we tried the imaginary envelope system in our quicken accounts, but it truly did no work for us. It is true that when you have cash it is tougher to part from it than to swipe the card.

    We came up with an easy way. We found a # that simply works for us. You need to find that #...in our case I get $300 every two weeks and my husband gets $200.00. The only thing we ever debit is gas. So when we do our bills we created a "Line"...the line is 500 plus our kids allowances which equals a total of 50 right now...so we pay ourselves our 550..every payday my husband deducts this amount and dishes out the money to me and the kids...we usually leave $200 in our checking account and anything else is paid to bills or debts. The 200 covers our gas and the occasional weird thing..such as a copay for a medical appointment, scout dues, etc. So our LINE is $750...this amount must be available after bills. This is our Line...anything above it is used for debt repayment/savings/household bills.

    We no longer fight or worry about the money. I personally set aside in my wallet $50 in one envelope marked clothes/entertainment. The other 250 truly gets spent on food. We are family of 6. But the other envelope occasionally grows. I write on it goals. Right now some of my boys need new shoes so as soon as it reaches $100...I plan to take them shoe shopping. I also owe one of my sons a date to see Percy Jackson..he read all five books so I promised to take him to see the movie.

    Well, that is what works for us and has for over 2 years. I use to get just 250, but we found that was not enough and raised it. So figure out what works find your # and stick with it :) Good Luck!
    ReplyDelete
  4. I know Frugal Trenches uses a jar system? I have a set amount in my purse that is mine. Shopping and petrol is paid on debit card, but it comes out of an account which we have specifically set up for that and a set amount each month.

    How about plastic money bags in your purse??

    Am v excited!!!
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  5. Could you leave your jars or envelopes at home? That's what I do, I only take with me what I need!
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  6. Thank you for all your advice. I'm going to do a post on the system I'm trying =0)
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  7. We tried the imaginary system but we are not disciplined enough to make it work. Neither of us liked the idea of envelopes for multiple reasons, mainly our kids (ages 2, 4 & 5) like to draw on everything. I decorated jars and we're going to use them. I haven't finished all of them but for March we'll use them.

    Right now, I just update YNAB (You Need A Budget) every few days and that is keeping us on a pretty good track.
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  8. I have a wallet with separate slots in it. I only use the envelope system for groceries and home improvement - everything else for me is usually a planned purchase, so I use a debit card. My grocery budget is $125 and my home improvement budget is $100, so at the most I have $225 in my wallet, but a little extra for those little things that can come up. So far this has worked quite well for me, I'll be interested in reading what is working for you.
    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't use an envelope system as such, but I do withdraw £100 each month and draw from this for any personal spending.
    In terms of joint shopping spending, I use my cashback credot card (1% back every year) and once it reaches £140ish, pay it off at the end of the month. Generally we do not go beyond £150 so by monitoring that balance i find it works as well as cash for us.
    ReplyDelete

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