Convinced 3 years of envelope budgeting actually works after I tried it last January

I thought the whole cash envelope thing was just a gimmick for people who couldn't use a spreadsheet. So I put $280 for groceries in an envelope on January 1st and told myself I'd see how long it lasted. Made it to January 28th before the envelope was empty, which was way better than my usual credit card blowout by the 15th. Did that for 6 months straight and my grocery spending dropped by almost 40 bucks a week. Anyone else have a budgeting method they swore was overhyped until they actually tried it?

2 comments

2 Comments

leor372h ago

Read somewhere that cash makes you spend less because you feel the loss physically.

wade_young861h ago

Yeah is it just me or did switching to cash really change how you looked at your wallet? I started doing this thing where I pull out the cash for my weekly spending every Monday and just leave my cards at home. It forced me to actually think before buying stuff like coffee or snacks because once that cash was gone it was gone. I ended up saving way more than I expected just by feeling that physical weight leave my pocket. It's kind of weird but it worked for me when nothing else did.