Envelope Budgeting

The envelope budget system explained

1. Put your income in envelopes.

The cash for each month’s expenses is taken out and divided into envelopes for each budget category. Like groceries, eating out, debt payoff, and kids. 

Put Income In Envelopes | Envelope Budgeting

2. Spend from the envelope.

Along the way, you take money out of an envelope to spend. For each category, spend out of the designated envelope — and only that envelope!

Spend From Envelope | Envelope Budgeting

3. Stop spending and see how much you saved.

Stop once you’ve emptied the envelope — or before if you’re really disciplined.

Rather than figuring out that you overspent after the fact, you plan your spending beforehand and only spend what you have.

The problem is, carrying around a lot of cash in this age of debit cards and credit cards isn’t really convenient or safe.

See How Much You Saved | Envelope Budgeting
Envelope Budgeting with Goodbudget

Envelope Budgeting in the 21st Century

Use Goodbudget. Goodbudget helps you to stick to your budget limits without the hassle of keeping actual cash in physical envelopes. It’s available on the Web, iPhone, and Android. Save for big expenses, share household expenses, and budget on the go. Goodbudget makes it easy to live out a budget based on the envelope budgeting system.

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