How to Start a Cash Envelope System – Money Saving Wallets

The cash envelope system keeps you honest in your spending. With cash in envelopes for each category of your spending, you have a strict budget you must follow. If you go over, you are out of cash – that’s it. If you are under, you have reason to celebrate.

Keep reading to learn how to budget and save money with the cash envelope system.

What is a Budget?

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A budget is a spending plan based on the income you make. It’s a birds’ eye view of where your money goes every month, whether you spend it on bills or in other areas.

Knowing how much you spend is important as it helps you set up financial goals and ways to achieve them for your future self. A budget helps you learn how to save money from your salary, commission, or fixed income.

What is Cash Envelope Budget System?

A cash envelope budget system is a way of planning and tracking your spending. It’s an old-fashioned way to keep track of expenses. But it can be surprisingly effective for people who are very detail-oriented.

The Cash Envelope System divides money into different envelopes labelled with the categories that you spend money on (groceries, gas, etc.). You then use only the cash in each envelope until it runs out before moving on to the next one.

This cash envelope budget system will give you more control over your finances by helping you plan ahead and stick to set budgets for different expenditures.

Where to buy cash envelope wallets

You can buy cash envelope wallets from

Dollar store
Amazon
Etsy
Any reputable stationery store in your neighbourhood

How to Make a Cash Envelope Budget System Work

The cash envelope budget method helps you learn how to budget and save money by using cash. Unlike when you pay for items with a credit or debit card, cash can’t be replaced.

A cash envelope system is a simple way to budget your money. It’s also easy to implement, just get some envelopes and put money in them! Once you spend the money on your envelope, you can’t spend anymore.

With the cash envelope system, you have envelopes for each category of spending. You place the appropriate amount of cash in each envelope that you have budgeted for the month.

As you pay from each envelope, the cash decreases. Once the cash is gone, you are done spending in that category. At the end of the month, you tally up what you have left to see how you did.

How to Start Cash Envelope System

So how do you make the cash envelope budget system work? Use these simple steps:

1. How to Start a Cash Envelope System – Create a Budget

This is the hardest step. You have to get real with yourself. Take your bank statements over the last few months or even years and look at your expenses.

Where do you spend your money? Where can you cut corners? Remember, you’ll be paying cash for everything, so there is no more overspending and throwing it on a credit card.

Next, you need to figure out your financial goals. Do you want to:

Get out of credit card debt
Buy a house
Save for a vacation
Maximize your retirement contribution
Save for your children’s college education

These are just some ideas on how to start a cash envelope system– you can add your own long-term financial goals. It’s important to write them down because you are more likely to make them a reality when you see what’s really important to you.

2.Cash Envelope Budget System Categories

Once you have your budget, you must create categories or wallets. Below we’ll show you the most common categories, but you can add or change them as needed.

Groceries
Restaurants
Gas
Health
Beauty
Car maintenance
Personal
Entertainment
Gifts

Types of Monthly Expenses for Cash Envelope Budget Method

Fixed Expenses for Cash Envelope Budget System

Keep in mind that there are fixed and variable expenses you’ll have each month.

As you create your budget, you must factor in the fixed expenses first, working the variable expenses in as you can.

Housing payments
Car payments
Student loans
Personal loans
Life insurance premiums
Health insurance premiums
Cable/internet
Cell phone bills

Variable Expenses for Cash Envelope Budget System

Variable expenses are those that may change from month to month. A few examples include:

Utilities
Gas
Household expenses
Food
Gifts
Entertainment
Clothes

You must include utilities, food, and gas in your budget; even though they are variable expenses, but clothing, household expenses, and gifts have a little more wiggle room.

In other words, if you don’t have the cash for those expenses for one month, you may have to skip it. You have to learn ways to save money on a tight budget.

Determine Monthly Budget Limit for Each Account

It’s important that you determine the limits for each account every month. If you have variable income, your amounts may change from month to month.

If you work on a salary or have a fixed income, it’s easier to budget every month, knowing your fixed and variable expenses for the year.

Knowing how much to spend in each category can get tricky. As a general rule try spending around

25% of your income on housing
10% on utilities
10 – 25% on insurance
10 – 15% on food

Each person’s budget will differ, but these guidelines can help you see where you stand.

Once you create your budget, create an envelope for each category. On each envelope, write the amount of cash that the envelope should contain. That’s how to start a cash envelope system and be able to effectively achieve your financial goals like saving for a downpayment, a new car or vacation.

3.Withdraw Funds From Main Account

Immediately after the budget is set, withdraw the exact amount of cash needed for each category and place the funds in your envelope.

Make sure you label the outside of each envelope with the category name and the exact dollar amount you are placing in the envelope.

4.How to Start Cash Envelope System – Spend Cash From Envelopes Appropriately

Now is when the real test starts. Once you place the money in the envelopes, it’s go time. When a bill is due, you pay it from the envelope.

This works great for purchases you make in person, such as gas and groceries. Where it gets tricky is online purchases. You have two options:

• Leave the appropriate amount of funds in your bank account, knowing that it’s for the specified bill

• Take the cash out and deposit the cash back into your account right before you pay the bill, this way you know you won’t accidentally spend the money meant for your housing payment or phone bill

5.Track Your Spending

Tracking your spending is the only way to make the cash envelope system work. It teaches you how to budget and save money. You can track your spending in one of two ways:

• Pencil and paper – Many people still prefer to keep track of their expenses with a standard log. If that’s you, go for it. Just make sure you log every single expense.

You can do it formally on a spreadsheet or write it on the corresponding envelope, whatever is easier for you.

• Electronically – You have many options for electronically tracking your spending. There are numerous free apps, such as Mint or You Need a Budget, as well as PC programs, such as Buddi or Budget Pulse. You can even set up your own Excel spreadsheet.

You can choose to have your bank statements directly synced with your accounts or you can update the logs manually.

It doesn’t matter how you track your spending, it just matters that you do it. Sure, you could just wait and see if you have cash left in each envelope at the end of the month, but that doesn’t tell you where you over or underspent.

You need hard data to help you budget correctly for the months moving forward.

6.Handling Emergencies

Emergencies happen to the best of us. You can’t predict them and if you don’t have the funds in an emergency fund, it can cause pure panic.

First, gather yourself and figure out what you need. How much money will the emergency cost? Next, evaluate the status of your ‘other’ envelopes.

Which envelopes have room for you to borrow from them without affecting the timeliness of paying your bills?

It’s best if you talk this step over with your partner or someone you can trust if you are single. Making the decisions on your own while in a state of panic may result in poor decision-making.

What if You Run out of Cash from a Category?

Despite your best efforts, you may find that you run out of cash in a category or two. Use it as a learning lesson, but DON’T borrow from another envelope.

Most commonly, this happens in entertainment, dining out, food shopping, or clothing shopping envelopes.

It can be tempting to reach over and grab the excess amount in another envelope, but that defeats the purpose of the cash envelope system.

Instead, chalk it up and learn to stay steadfast in your decisions to avoid overspending.

Related reference: How to create a budget

Leftover Cash From Envelope Budget Category?

If you have cash leftover in an envelope, congratulate yourself! You’ve figured out how to budget and save money! You can do a few things with the money:

Splurge a little – Going under budget is a reason to celebrate, just keep it minimal. Don’t go blow all of the extra funds, but rewarding yourself can serve as a great motivation.

Roll the money over – You can roll the funds over into next month, padding one of your favorite envelopes a little bit, such as clothing or food.

Pay down debt – If you have debt you want to get rid of, use the extra funds to pay the debt down.

Save the money – If you have other financial goals, such as a down payment on a house or setting up an emergency fund, stock the extra money away in the appropriate account and consider yourself one step closer to meeting your goals.

Pros of Cash Envelope Budget System

You are forced to be disciplined – With a set amount of cash for each category, it’s harder to overspend than it is when you swipe plastic and carry a balance.

Plan before you shop – Heading to the store and grabbing things as you see them is the easiest way to go over budget. With the cash system, you must plan accordingly so that you avoid the embarrassment of having to remove items off your bill due to a lack of funds.

Avoid overdraft and bank fees – Using cash doesn’t involve any fees. If you don’t have the cash, you can make the purchase. You don’t have to worry about expensive overdraft fees, interest charges, or late payment penalties.

You have a better understanding of where your cash goes – Mindless spending occurs when you swipe plastic. You don’t realize you are truly spending money until after the fact when you look at your bank account.

Having a cash envelope keeps you accountable and helps you make smarter decisions.

No credit card payments to track – Using credit cards means you must keep track of the bills, pay them on time, and decrease the balance as fast as you can to avoid unnecessary interest charges or other penalties.

With cash, there are no credit card bills to track, you pay once and you are done.

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Cons of Cash Envelope Budget System

It’s inconvenient – You always have to go to the bank or ATM to get the cash you need. Being able to just swipe your plastic is much quicker, but also much less mindless.
Tracking your expenses gets complicated – If you don’t write your spending down right away, it’s easy to forget. If you keep your receipts, you can go back and track your spending, but it can waste time and make you frustrated.
There aren’t any rewards – Cash-back credit cards and even some debit cards offer rewards for spending in certain categories. Cash doesn’t have any rewards, with the exception of avoiding hefty interest charges or overdraft fees.
Cash doesn’t always work – If you can’t buy an item in person, you may need to shop online. You’ll need to deposit your cash into your account in order to use your plastic to pay for the purchase.

Alternatives to cash envelope system or financial peace envelope system

Digital or electronic envelope system
Qube as a stack of cash envelopes
50/30/20 budget system

In conclusion to How to Start a Cash Envelope System

The best way to figure out how to start a cash envelope system is by learning how to strictly follow a budget to save money. It’s a steep is learning curve. The cash envelope system can help you figure it out quickly if everyone is on board. It also helps you feel more in control of your spending by having a cash limit for each category.

If you want to learn how to start a cash envelope system. It’s important to figure out how cash is used in the cash envelope system or money-saving wallet. Cash can be given a category and each category has a cash limit. This cash limit will help you stay within your cash budget for each category of spending.

The cash envelope system is something that may be right for you if you are someone who wants to set cash limits on a category in order to help with category management.

There are some things that can present challenges when using the cash envelope system or money organizer. You may want to consider the money category organizer before moving on to the next category in the cash envelope system.

If you’re out of cash, stop spending! That’s one major challenge with the use of the cash envelope budget system.

It’s important that your entire family understands the importance of paying cash and only using the money allotted for each category in order to stay on budget.