As a follow up to my post a few weeks back about getting out of debt and handling our finances, I am going to share our cash envelope system. (And I also am in love with my new purse, so I'm sharing that too. Ha.)
This is my third Kavu bag and I adore them. I've carried the heck out of them. You can find them here and here.
This one is worn across the body and holds a lot.
As you can see.
1. My brain dump notebook 2. Ace's change of clothes
3. Kavu Sidewinder bag 4. Baby wipes 5. Pouch of smaller items
6. Pouch with hairbrush and hairbands 7. Card pouch 8. Old lady wallet
1. Clean Well natural hand sanitizer 2. Oil blends in roller bottles (vitamin e oil blended with Shield Me for a bug repellant, and the other is blended with Germ Destroyer.) 3. Portable cell phone charger 4. Gum 5. Kid's Rescue Remedy 6. Neutrogena sunscreen 7. Pill case with ibuprofen 8. Lip balm 9. Maybelline Cover Stick 10. Hairbands (gotta have!)
Now down to business.
At the end of the month, when my husband and I do our written budget, we withdraw the amount of cash we need to fill all our cash envelopes for the following month. The envelopes that I use regularly are carried in my purse.
I used to say that I didn't want to carry cash envelopes because it just seemed like a major hassle. But the more I heard about it, the more I realized it was something that was worth a try. We were yearning to feel more in control of our money and spending habits, and if Dave Ramsey said to do it, we were gonna do it, by golly. What we found was that when we depend on using our debit card for all our purchases, we spend a whole lot more than when we carry cash. It hurts more to spend that paper money! When I swipe, swipe, swipe, I don't feel it. But handing over cash, I physically seeing it diminish in my wallet. I doubt I'll ever go back to only plastic.
So here is what my old lady cash envelope wallet looks like! At first I carried literal cash envelopes, white envelopes, one for each thing. But that kinda was the pits. Very inconvenient and also a little embarrassing to pull out of your purse. So I have converted over to using a regular wallet with a lot of pockets, all divided up into sections with simple index cards. I added some washi tape at the top as a label. I really like this method and have been using it for close to a year now.
The cash envelopes that I carry are these:
Grocery
Ace (our daughter, she calls herself Ace and it has stuck.)
Gifts
Eat Out
Gas
Household
My personal spending (my husband carries his own, of course)
Clothes (as needed by month)
The cash envelopes we fill but don't carry:
Zelda (our pup)
Car repairs
Vehicle taxes
House repairs
Vacation
Chistmas
Monthly bills we pay electronically:
Mortgage
Electric
Car insurance
Cell phone
Landline and internet
The luxury of having money designated for different things is that when the car breaks down, we know we have money specifically for that and there's no stress. When we have to repair something in the house, it's no big deal. I can keep tack of my grocery spending simply by looking in my wallet. We can spend mindfully, and deliberately, with no stress. It has changed our life!
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