TIL my dad's old-school envelope system still works better than any budgeting app I've tried

Last month I was helping my folks clean out their office and found a stack of labeled envelopes from the 90s: groceries, gas, utilities, fun money. My dad said he used to pull out cash every payday and split it up, and when the envelope was empty, that was it for the month. I laughed it off at first since I've been using Mint and You Need a Budget for years, but then I actually tried it for two weeks with my own cash. I live outside Denver where everything is getting expensive, and I swear I spent $60 less on takeout just because I physically saw the twenties disappearing. Has anyone else gone back to a cash-only method for certain categories and found it actually works better than a screen?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_ramirez382d ago

Wait, is it just the physical act of handing over cash that makes you stop and think? I tried cash for my eating out budget last month and I swear I skipped a couple of burritos just because I didn't want to break a twenty. It's weird, but seeing that envelope get thinner really does hit different than a number on a screen.

flores.mark2d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that the pain of paying is literally stronger with cash because you feel the loss more... like there's actual brain science behind it. @kai_ramirez38 that envelope trick is basically hacking your own mind to spend less, which is pretty smart honestly. Makes you wonder if we'd all be better off leaving the cards at home sometimes.

the_ben1d ago

Yeah it's real. The physical act of handing over money makes the loss feel way more painful.