In praise of the envelope system

I avoided this for months, thinking... what if I get stuck in the grocery line and don't have enough money left in my envelope?? But I have to say, I am a total convert to the envelope system. What's more, Brian loves the system, which I never thought would happen... not in a million years! He said that his favorite thing is having a beer envelope, so now I can't give him dirty looks if he spends money on beer. Who me? :lol

Seriously, though, it's been a great way for us to agree on budgeting. Just look in the envelope and if there's no money left, there's no money left. No arguments or discussions. It's all there in black and white. Love it!

I know lots of moms are talking about how to budget and I just wanted throw this out there. If you've been thinking about trying it, go for it!

Bridget and I are so ready to jump on this train! Once we settle everything with the house next week and pay off all our CC debt, we are going to go through the DR program with her sister (she does it through the church).

Glad to hear it is working for you!!

Congrats on using the envelope system! We have been using it since January and it's amazing how freaking difficult it is to part with cash. We are still tweaking it especially since I have a hard time with the Food envelope, that one gets used up the quickest. I have started making bi-weekly menus. I hope it helps to keep me from running out before the next payday.

I second the envelope system... it's getting DH and I on the same page. Can't argue with cash!! :)

We did the envelope system years ago and we really liked it. With the increase in prices for everything, we've been talking about doing it again.:thumbup

Ok, this seems like an interesting idea to me - would you mind offering more information on how you do it? Like do you do separate envelopes for separate "kinds" of groceries? And beyond groceries, do you use this for any other expenses? Need more detail!

Ok, this seems like an interesting idea to me - would you mind offering more information on how you do it? Like do you do separate envelopes for separate "kinds" of groceries? And beyond groceries, do you use this for any other expenses? Need more detail!

I'm sure Dave Ramsey has all sorts of ideas on this... but I'll give you the Belcher family rules. Any bills that we receive regularly (electricity, netflix, cell phones), don't get an envelope; I just pay by check as usual. But other expenses do. So we have:

Groceries
Eating Out
Hair care
Toiletries (which really means toiletries + paper products for me, I have no idea why I combined the two...)
Diapers/Wipes
Brian mad money
Christine mad money
Yard/Home Depot/Home Repair supplies (we have an old house, it's never ending)
Beer, of course

So, I take out all of the cash we'll need on the first of the month, divide it out and literally have envelopes with these categories written on them. I agree that groceries are hard for me to stay in budget, so we're flexible and agreed that if we don't have enough in groceries at the end of the month, we can take out of a different pile to make up the difference. We'll usually have money left in home repair and eating out.

Another benefit is that it stops the little trips that I used to charge to my debit card. If I don't have the envelope with cash, I don't make the trip right then and there. I have to go home and get it. Usually not worth the trip for the $4 item I was going to stop for.

Beer, of course

So, I take out all of the cash we'll need on the first of the month, divide it out and literally have envelopes with these categories written on them. I agree that groceries are hard for me to stay in budget, so we're flexible and agreed that if we don't have enough in groceries at the end of the month, we can take out of a different pile to make up the difference. We'll usually have money left in home repair and eating out.

Another benefit is that it stops the little trips that I used to charge to my debit card. If I don't have the envelope with cash, I don't make the trip right then and there. I have to go home and get it. Usually not worth the trip for the $4 item I was going to stop for.

:lol at the beer money! Maybe that's what it'll take to convince DH.

Also, I'm glad you mentioned about having to go home to get the envelope -and that making it not worth going back out. We are getting ready to start a pseudo-envelope system (we'll be using gift cards to particular stores - loaded with the amount for that store). I was wondering about who would carry the money, and what happens if the other person has the money. Do you just leave the envelopes at home until you plan to use them? Or do you split them into two sub-envelopes if both of you might be spending a little - like eating out? How do you handle things like that?

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!

I was wondering about who would carry the money, and what happens if the other person has the money. Do you just leave the envelopes at home until you plan to use them? Or do you split them into two sub-envelopes if both of you might be spending a little - like eating out? How do you handle things like that?

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!

Well, we leave our envelopes at home. With shopping, we're either together or I do it during the week while he's at work. So, I guess that hasn't come up for us. As for eating out, we do this rarely. But the eating out envelope is for when we go out as a family. If we wanted to get something on our own (or go out with friends, MNO, etc.), it would have to come out of our personal "mad money" envelopes.

That really has been the best part. The mad money has saved us lots of irritation with each other (or, more accurately, has saved me from being irritated with him). I'm the saver, he's the spender. But he's also the breadwinner right now, so while we both consider it "our money," I know there are times of weakness when he grumbles about how hard he works only to feel like he's still a broke college student. Now I'm on a ramble. Sorry!

Ok, this seems like an interesting idea to me - would you mind offering more information on how you do it? Like do you do separate envelopes for separate "kinds" of groceries? And beyond groceries, do you use this for any other expenses? Need more detail!

We don't separate them...we technically have the Target envelope which includes groceries we eat, sodas, toilet paper, dog food, even towels if we need them. That just made it a lot simpler for us.

And I :love (most of the time) the envelope system. It definitely takes a lot of the emotion out of our financial purchases.