angierae
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2010
Tomorrow I'm starting the Envelope system to try to get my "bleeding money" problem under control. I spend so much money without realizing it!
I went through my budget and set $ amounts for everything, and then went through every payday this month and set when I'll be withdrawing money.
The envelopes I'm going to be carrying are:
Gasoline
Car repairs (if nothing else, I need new tires before next winter, and this will be a good way to save for them)
Med/Dental copays
Groceries
Eating out
Clothes
Entertainment
Gifts
Hobbies
Charity/Fundraisers
Other things are budgeted for but will be staying in my checking account. My goal was to not use my debit card at all - everything else that's being paid out of the checking account are either bills, my daughter's school lunches (I write a check) or savings/vacation goals.
The budget is fairly tight for April and May because I had to dip into savings for car repairs (which is what fueled this whole change) but we'll see how it goes once that's repaid.
Has anyone else had success with this? I know some people just keep it all in their checking and keep the envelopes per an excel chart or whatever, but everytime I try to do that I find I'm not keeping up with stuff and then I just start spending. It's very easy to see when there's no more cash in an envelope, for me.
I went through my budget and set $ amounts for everything, and then went through every payday this month and set when I'll be withdrawing money.
The envelopes I'm going to be carrying are:
Gasoline
Car repairs (if nothing else, I need new tires before next winter, and this will be a good way to save for them)
Med/Dental copays
Groceries
Eating out
Clothes
Entertainment
Gifts
Hobbies
Charity/Fundraisers
Other things are budgeted for but will be staying in my checking account. My goal was to not use my debit card at all - everything else that's being paid out of the checking account are either bills, my daughter's school lunches (I write a check) or savings/vacation goals.
The budget is fairly tight for April and May because I had to dip into savings for car repairs (which is what fueled this whole change) but we'll see how it goes once that's repaid.
Has anyone else had success with this? I know some people just keep it all in their checking and keep the envelopes per an excel chart or whatever, but everytime I try to do that I find I'm not keeping up with stuff and then I just start spending. It's very easy to see when there's no more cash in an envelope, for me.