8+ Sample Cash Envelopes

What Is a Cash Envelope?

A cash envelope is just your personal envelope where you can store and organize your money. It includes a variety of divisions or budget categories depending on their corresponding allocation of use. technically a tracker of income and expenses. The cash envelope system is the way to track precisely how much money you have in each budget category for the end of the week or month by keeping your cash. For example, you might put 1,500 pesos in the grocery budget and 500 pesos in the luxury budget. The point here is that you will only be able to spend the cash out of these envelopes for the specific allocation of that budget until the next cycle of it. Some of the budget categories include things like beauty, groceries, household supplies, luxury, travel money, and long-term finances. If you are an overspender, then the cash envelope system might be an effective budgeting strategy for you to try.

The Art of Budgeting

The word “budget” has its root of origin back in six centuries. It is written in Wycliffe’s translation of Psalm 33 says God gathers together the waters of the sea “as in a bowge”.“Bowge” to Wycliffe was a leather bag, before that, the Celtic word “bolg” which meant a bag or sack where it is the basis of the word “bulge” and a close family of “belly”. As I heard the sound of belly my mind instantly reminds me of the word “diet”. Well, diet and belly come together for me, and let’s not ask the obvious part of it. Somehow, diet and budget have something in common. Both are perceived as strict reminders of things we are not allowed to have. Both need effort, perseverance, consistency, and a whole lot of discipline to gain the desired outcome. A little taste of sacrifice will do because the fruit that you will harvest soon is beyond your present struggle.

Sometimes when we are on a diet we strongly resist the food that can ruin our diet plan. Same in budgeting, we also resist hard in buying things during 50% off sale. A lot use to diet to acquire a healthy and desired body, and a lot use to budget to develop a fiscally responsible lifestyle. There’s a beautiful art behind budgeting, it’s not only all about building a pile of money in your backyard. Budgeting enables you to know what you can afford. It helps you to track your money and save more of it.  In addition, budgeting can help you make better financial strategies, away from debt, stay directed on your long-term financial goals, and help you to be a girloy scout for emergencies. Most of all it teaches you how to discipline yourself. But let’s not make it sound too restrictive, if a spending plan is more comfortable for you than hearing a word budget, then we can go for that. Anyway, a budget is nothing more than a plan on how you properly spend your money. If you are ready for the ride in tracking down your money then you need this important tool that can help you the most, cash envelopes.

The Importance of Cash Envelope Method?

Cash envelope is a method of budgeting that is very effective for everyone. What is interesting with the cash envelope method is its benefits. The cash envelope is very important in tracking money as well, they allow the person to identify priorities too. Budgeting as art means giving beauty to it, being creative to it. Here are some reasons why cash envelope is important and why this method is essential in life. It will naturally encourage someone to save up money and understand the value of money. Self-appreciation is a benefit as well of budgeting, seeing your hard work paying off is a big thing.

Reflective budgeting: It is a reflection of your personal wants, needs, and values so it will likely be distinct from anyone else’s. Maybe you are a pet lover, who put a large portion of their cash into a pet envelope. Or a fashion chick, where your hobby is to canvas limited clothes from well-known boutiques and designers. Then you can put a lot of your money in your fashion hobby envelope Don’t be too restrictive and compare yourself to other types of budgeting. If they put too much or too little on this area it doesn’t mean that it’s for you to follow too. Stick to yours because tracking down your money appropriately is not a marathon. Like all of your other plans and goals, it is a process and a blast of commitment. As a matter of fact, only the beginning of the run is difficult. It can be complicated as it is for the first couple of months, but consistency is the key, once you get used to it, you can learn it is boundlessly more effectively and successfully than your previous budgeting method.Control of your money: Be the master of your money, don’t be the mad slave of it. Writing all your expenses in a notebook will help you to remind the amount of money you spent and it also makes you wiser in creating a better strategy next time on how to spend less. Writing down every single transaction that you are making will make you accountable and aware of how much you are spending. You can also create a financial action plan. Reality speaking, even if we like it or not the purpose of a cash envelope is to hold your penny, holding your temptation with all your might. It is always about spending less than spending more. To productively use your cash envelope system, you will need to plan a successful budget and begin it with determining what you can truly afford. Take a closer look at your income after taxes so you will know beforehand how much money you have left for valuable expenses. Remember that what you spend will always be lesser than what you‘ve earned. Control your money, don’t let your money control you. Always not the vice versa.Money Categorization: After you have tracked your expenses for a month, you can separate this into categories.  You can split them up into your cash envelopes. A common variable expense budget categories you may include are: Essential groceries, health, household items, gas, luxury, beauty, hobby, pets, vacations travel money, miscellaneous, and anything else that needs to be included in your budget categories. You can have your own flexible budget categories depending on your want and needs. You can also put a label of the amount that you want to put in each envelope. It is up to you if you want to fill your envelopes with each paycheck or once or twice a month. Find what is best for you and hang to it. If you have leftover money at the end then much better. You can roll it again into the next cycle or put it into your savingsSetting a limit: We don’t want that what we put a lot of effort into will put to waste. Set a limit. This is as important as filling your envelopes with money. You need to set spending limits for each of your budget categories, base your spending limits on what you can truly afford not on what you just actually want to spend. As I have mentioned in the first part above, living within your means is negative if you are planning on long-term financial goals. It is indispensable that you always need to be honest with yourself it comes to this. Setting a limit is very crucial for we might not know what comes ahead as you grow older and the money currency will rise higher as it is. Moreover, as you continue in using this kind of budgeting method by knowing the anticipated limit, it helps you to be able to adjust too if really needed. It is an expected part of the process as you go along the way. Don’t be afraid of changes because that will help you be wiser and adapt gracefully if a sudden emergency happens. If you find that the cash envelope system is that effective for you, you can try and work on another option. You may want to consider a virtual envelope system instead of what I have presented to you. Just always be aware of your choice and preferences that will inspire and motivate you to stay on the right track.

How to Make a Cash Envelope?

Making cash envelopes comes with a lot of consideration, it might be simple but it takes a lot of creativity and commitment to be able to make a cash envelope. Dedication is essential for making the cash envelope method come true, but there are more steps in making a physical cash envelope. In making one, you need to figure out your priorities, needs and wants, cash flow, and what kind of budgeting you want. Many will consider this method ineffective but with proper steps and dedication it can be the best method in saving, given the accessibility, things will be easier to save. Here are some steps to help to make your own cash envelope and you can check the samples here for further guidance.

List down needs and wants

This is the primary step in making a cash envelope, create a list of your wants and needs. Categorize them properly and rank which of those you needed or wanted the most. You can start by making a list on your notes, identify properly which of the expenses are your want and need. This is very important because listing them down would help you understand yourself and value your efforts as well in achieving them.

Select free envelope template online

This is where your creativity and simplicity come out but the most important is making your cash envelope clean and neat. Selecting your template comes with two options, a creative and a plain envelope, both are great depending on your style and usage.

Creative envelope

You can find wholesome designs of cash envelopes online. From any categories, theme, colors, and background. If you want it to be more personalized you can add your own preferred design. Download it and print. If you are not up with free printable cash envelopes, you can create your design using apps that allow you to make a cash envelope template.

Plain envelope

Of course, you can go with a plain black or white envelope any color that you want. Using any colored paper. If your conclusive goal is just to save money then any type of envelope will do. After downloading and printing,  cut out the perimeter carefully using scissors, make sure that you are following the pattern. Now your cash envelope is ready to fold. Then it’s up to you if you want to tape or glue the side flaps of your customize cash envelope.

Design your budget category

The first step in developing your cash system is to decide what specific labels and the amount of cash you place in each envelope. Remember that it has to be unique and beneficial. The cash envelope system is a very popular budgeting method, all the options, and ideas on how to create this one are already navigating across online. You can make a DIY (Do it yourself) cash envelope if you want it to be more personalized and unique. If you don’t want a handwritten category, you can customize it using the free fonts you would like to use. Select the best size that can make your labels clear and readable. Then you can cut and paste it to your ready-to-use cash envelope. Once you have your cash envelope system set up feel free to place your designated bill, savings, or expenditure that you need to budget. Voila, you can start saving your gold at the end of the rainbow. Just bear with the heavy rain always.

Keep your cash envelope?

This is a good question actually, for we know that when dealing with money we need to be wise and vigilant. No matter how small or big the amount we keep every count of it matters.  The secure place that I can suggest where you can keep your envelopes aside in the vault of your closet, of course, is in the fireproof boxplace. Put it to the corner or it’s designed to place away from children and pets. Cash envelopes are useful tools that can make us responsible for arranging and controlling our money. True enough money can not buy real happiness. But money can bring us close to that. Practically speaking, without it we cannot survive. So might at least be frugal in using it. So, hang on in saving and budgeting no matter how small the amount we have in our hands, for if we can be trusted with little sure we can be trusted with more.

FAQs

How do you track your cash envelope?

You can easily track your cash envelope by making a cash worksheet. In this way, you’ll be able to encode and track your finances.

What is a cash envelope?

A cash envelope is a budget system in which items are categorized in an envelope.

How to make a cash envelope?

Consider your items first, label the envelopes, and allocate the budget properly.

Saving is not easy, some will put their money to banks for more security but a cash envelope will teach you a lot about commitment and dedication. A cash envelope method is a strategy to budget and allocates your money in a creative way, this will help you to be self-aware of the expenses you have. Future can sometimes be certain and that is by securing enough money for all your expenses, it can be hard but that is the reason why the cash envelope method is here to help you out.