How to Budget With Envelopes

Back in the old days, people would put cash for different categories of spending in different envelopes, then spend out of those envelopes. It turns out that they were onto something. By budgeting, you have control over your money, and when you use cash (as opposed to credit cards, debit cards, and even checks), you spend less. Here's how to use some old wisdom.

	Create a personal budget each month before the month begins. Do this by writing your total income for the upcoming at the top of the page and designating where that money will go, until you have given a name to every dollar. (Make sure you don't budget more than you have coming in!)
	Find the categories in the budget of things that you buy in person. (That is, things you do not pay for in the mail, on the Internet, or over the telephone.) Those would include things like food, clothing, entertainment, money for eating out, etc.
	Add up the amounts that you have designated for each of those categories.
	Go to the bank at the beginning of the month and withdraw the amount that you need for the upcoming month.
	Label envelopes with the categories that you created in the budget and put the appropriate amount of money into those envelopes.
	Whenever you need to buy an item in a category, bring the envelope along. Once the envelope is empty, then you are done spending in that category until the next month.

• The bank may have little envelopes that are the right size for putting cash in. They might give them to you for free if you ask nicely.