Well, technically somebody “lost” it for me during my 20 minute ride on the bus this morning. I had it when I got on the bus and by the time I got up to get off the bus, it was no longer in my pocket.

I asked the bus driver if anybody had turned in a wallet, and she said in a hearty, no-nonsense, “let me ED-u-cate you” tone of voice, “Honey, *no*-body turns in wallets on Muni, you better go back there and take another look!” I couldn’t help but smile at this. Unfortunately, another look turned up nothing, and the person sitting next to me on the crowded bus had exited in the time it took me to walk up and down the length of the bus.

Now, I had just gone to the bank to withdraw some cash a few days earlier—which was unfortunate. But it got me thinking about how problematic the classic envelope budgeting method is—using cash in real envelopes.

Instead of losing $70, I could have been out $120 in weekly Grocery money, and probably much more if I were carrying more of my envelopes.

So I’ll stick with using some plastic, which I can easily cancel by calling the bank, but use EEBA’s online envelopes to make sure that I don’t overspend any category.

Meanwhile, did anybody find a black tri-fold on the bus?