The cash envelopes should be for eating out, buying clothes, groceries, and other things that are really easy to overspend on. Keep those things in your budget, just don’t put them in cash envelopes. There are some bills that will give you a discount for paying online (and it’s just easier to do it that way too). Some people actually section their budgets into two categories – online payments and cash payments. Use Cash Envelopes For Things You Can Pay For With Cash You can either choose to take the online shopping envelope back to the bank or you can keep that cash on-hand and use it next month to fill up the next round of envelopes. When you buy groceries online, (for example) move the cash you spent from the grocery envelope to the “online shopping” envelope. Then, fill all your envelopes with cash like you normally would. It should be empty at the start of the month. How do you shop online with cash envelopes? These days it is so much easier to shop online for everything, even groceries. It’s perfect for things like clothes shopping, beauty shopping, entertainment, and even gas. Instead, use this as a way to control impulse buys. You don’t have to use cash to pay for every single thing. Handling the cash and seeing how much money you have left in your categories is the biggest benefit of this system.

How often does your budget refresh? If you budge once-a-month, even if you are paid bi-weekly, fill up your envelopes once a month. This is because the envelopes go right along with your budget. You should withdraw cash and fill up the envelopes every time you are paid. Here are a few of my favorite must-know tips that will help you get the most out of your new cash envelopes. If you are new to cash envelope budgeting, start with my cash envelope guide. This turns normal letter envelopes into cash envelopes with an easy-to-use register on the front. Instead of printing, cutting, folding, and gluing, Carrie Elle created a printable label that you can glue to regular envelopes.

Free printable expense tracker