That $200 "envelope system" experiment backfired hard

I heard all the hype about cash stuffing for budgeting so I made 6 envelopes for groceries, gas, fun money etc. First week I felt super in control. Second week I lost the "misc" envelope with $60 in it somewhere in my car. Took me 3 days to find it under the passenger seat. Then at the end of the month my rent envelope was short by $40 because I grabbed from it without writing it down. So I ended up overdrafting my checking account by accident. That $35 fee ate up any savings I thought I had. Has anyone else had cash go missing or get mixed up like this? What do you do instead?

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2 Comments

jason_stone5mo ago

Yeah I lost $40 from my gas envelope once and just gave up on cash entirely after that.

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ben4025mo ago

dude same thing happened to me except it was my "eating out" envelope. I kept finding random crumpled bills in my laundry for weeks. honestly the envelope system just made me more stressed because I was constantly paranoid about losing cash or forgetting where I put stuff

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