

This wallet goes out and about with them for easy access during shopping trips and commuting. In addition, cash stuffers also usually have a large wallet containing sections for different popular spending categories like groceries, gas, entertainment, and personal use. The binder usually holds all the envelopes for different bills, the least-used spending categories, and all the savings categories like Christmas gifts, a wedding, or vacation. Individuals who stick to the cash stuffing system (which, confusingly, is sometimes also called the cash envelope system) will have a detailed binder of envelopes to keep track of every category in their budget.

The envelope system, as popularized by financial guru Dave Ramsey, has a more narrow focus and sticks to only using cash in categories where it’s easy to overspend with a credit or debt card. In general, cash stuffing often focuses on dealing exclusively with cash, only depositing money into a bank when absolutely necessary. The digital trend is even more popular among those in the Millennial and Gen-Z crowd, who are even more comfortable with apps and touchless payment methods.īut though it’s countercultural, it’s definitely not the first budgeting system to look primarily to cash. A Gallup poll shows more and more people are using electronic payment methods (like debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, etc) with only 24% of people saying they make “all” or “most” of their purchases in cash. If this all-cash mentality sounds countercultural, it is. Especially for younger users and beginning budgeters, cash stuffing often provides more intrinsic motivation to keep working towards financial goals. Unlike the dry and sometimes overwhelming world of budgeting spreadsheets, cash stuffing has physical tokens, colorful trackers, and challenges with rewards to help you reach your goals. What’s different about cash stuffing is often the “gamified” approach. In addition to cashing paychecks or withdrawing direct deposit checks, stuffers need to make deposits in the amount of upcoming online bills and when they’ve reached a threshold of “too much cash on hand.” Obviously, the cash stuffing method means visiting the bank a lot. Basically, you “cash” out every paycheck and “stuff” it into envelopes that represent both spending and savings categories: groceries, rent, car payment, emergency fund, etc. “Cash stuffing is a budgeting system where you use physical cash to budget monthly,” says financial advisor Erica Mathews.

#Diy cash envelope system plus
People who are barely scraping by and living paycheck to paycheck might also be intrigued by the promise of always having cash on hand and even being able to save.īut should you personally start a cash stuffing system, or stick with more digital methods of money management? Today, I’m walking you through everything you need to know to make a decision, plus sharing insights from experts along the way. This is especially true for people who feel like they’re clueless when it comes to money, and find the hands-on nature more understandable. Many of them feature pink pastel themes, a woman with awesome nails, gorgeous binders or envelopes, and HUGE stacks of cash.įor people who are new to budgeting, or maybe haven’t even started yet, the cash stuffing system is attractive and exciting. Have you heard of cash stuffing? The #CashStuffing trend is crushing it on social media sites like TikTok and Youtube, where content has been viewed hundreds of millions of times.
