Cash envelopes

Jwatson

I have read a lot about cash envelopes and how they can help with budgeting each week / monthZ just wondered if anyone had tried them and to what success?

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Yellow_mango

Personally I never have or use cash at all, so actual hard cash envelopes wouldn’t work for me. I’d HATE it!

However I do use a sort of virtual envelope/ saving pot system which is very helpful.

I think it’s all about finding something that works for you and that you can stick to.

WhenIam64

just wondered if anyone had tried them and to what success?

I think it’s all about finding something that works for you and that you can stick to.

Cash envelopes, car jars, virtual accounts are all recommended. But as @yellow_mango says, find a solution that works for you.

You should also have an extra "jar/envelope" called emergencies for when one of the pots does not have enough money in it or for unforseen bills. It is all about anticipating which bills are due, when and for how much.

MovingForwards

When I moved and had to take control I used to withdraw money each Friday after work which was to last me for a week until I withdrew my next payment to myself.

From this money it would cover food, travel costs and bits.

If I had money left over, I would draw less out the next time.

My bills were on direct debit for the day after payday and I would always work out the following months bills on payday:

I would basically do an income and expenditure list, see how much money I have after bills, work out how much I could save and split the remaining money over however many Fridays were in the month til payday.

1p, 2p and 5p would go into a pot for dire emergencies from my change when shopping.

I did that for nearly two years whilst I gained control of my situation.

This year I mainly use my debit card as I have learnt to manage money, I draw out £10 cash and tend to have most of it left for the following week.

I also have a dedicated bank account for paying my historic debts from, so I can see how much I have for f&f offers.

WhenIam64

I also have a dedicated bank account for paying my historic debts from, so I can see how much I have for f&f offers.

What a good idea. I may nick that one for others.

JennyJukes

I don't like to keep too much cash on my person or in my house, so I don't do it.

How about keeping a note of what you want to budget for the month and every time you spend on each category, you add it in?

E.g, say you have a budget of £80 petrol a month, £160 for food and you spend £30 on petrol and £40 on food one week you would add it to your budget like so:

Petrol :£30/£80
Food: £40/£160

You're keeping notes of your budget but not actually keeping the cash on person? Just a suggestion.

Poppy1984

I use an app on my phone called spending app. It's been a life saver for budgeting. I have 3 accounts set up on it 1 for all my bills, one for shopping (food and household cleaning items) and a final called spending money which is basically for anything else I spend money on that doesn't fall into food shopping or bills.
I track every penny in and out yea it's boring but it works, If I want to know if I can afford something I look at my spending tracker not my bank account.
Because my bank account might show I have £200 but what it doesn't show is that out of that £200 several direct debit bills are going to be taken before next pay day and I will only be left with £40. My spending app does show me that so I go off that.

Jwatson

Ooh what app is this? What do people use for virtual envelopes?

Poppy1984

It's called spending tracker and is available for Android and iPhones.
I use it as virtual envelopes.
I have a "bills envelope" shopping envelope and spending money envelope within the app

clairebeth

I use the Monzo app based bank account. We have a joint account which we use for our monthly grocery budget which gets transferred there on payday. Then all we use the 'savings pots' to put money aside for anything else, like kids clothes, birthdays, haircuts, holidays, car fund, home repairs. You can name them whatever you want. You can also 'lock' the pots so you don't use them until a certain date. When we need to spend from a certain pot, we just use the app to transfer money to the card and it updates instantaneously. We also each have a personal Monzo account for our own spending money.

Ajw38

I do a digital version. I have my pay going into and all direct debits and bills going out of my tsb account. I have a starting account which I put my food budget in on payday. I have a monzo account where the money set aside for spending goes and I’ve just set up and rbs savings acc, with no online banking, to put my savings into so that I can’t access them as easily!
Up until this month, it’s been really helping and I’ve managed to really get a handle on my spending!