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Envelope System Video Tutorial (Step By Step Guide To Using The Envelope System To Manage Your Cash)

I use the Envelope System to manage my cash. The idea behind the envelope system is pretty simple. By distributing you cash into manageable budget categories, you can control spending, manage receipts, and fine-tune your budget. I thought that it would be interesting to create a video tutorial, explaining the basics of my envelope system. (Please note: I use actually envelopes to manage my cash, but you could use any method for dividing your cash into manageable amounts.) You will have to click the arrow to start the video… and you might have to hit the small volume bar at the bottom to get the audio to play. I did not set this video to “auto-play” because I hate going to sites that set their videos to “auto-play”.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think about the video.

(My Dad watched it and said… “Looks like the opening to Napoleon Dynamite”. )


75 Comments to Envelope System Video Tutorial (Step By Step Guide To Using The Envelope System To Manage Your Cash)

  1. August 21, 2008 - 6:09 pm | Permalink

    love the video and we are in agreement %100!. my wife and i use the cash only system too. we have saved money seeing the money spent – rather than the ease of using a credit card. she got tired of using the plain envelopes though. a friend told her about a website that makes inexpensive “cash only” envelopes. she got a set for about $10 – 15.00 and loves them. She says they look better than pulling out the white envelopes out of her purse. whatever it takes to keep the cash only system working – i am all for it.

  2. Ty's Gravatar Ty
    August 23, 2008 - 10:13 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the video! Just started my journey to the envelope system and it was great to actually see it done. And I love the idea of saving the change! Hopefully this will be the answer for me :0) Thanks again!

  3. reef's Gravatar reef
    August 24, 2008 - 8:04 pm | Permalink

    really enjoyed the presentation. I cant wait to try it starting this week. will keep you posted!

  4. Kim's Gravatar Kim
    September 20, 2008 - 10:15 am | Permalink

    Excellent video! I work from home and was having a discussion on a work at home forum (www.workplacelikehome.com) about starting to use the envelope system. Some on there hadn’t heard of it and I so I did a quick search and found your page and linked it there. I just came back to watch your video and I am very impressed! I wasn’t sure what to do with the change, having it rolling around in an envelope didn’t seem like too great of an idea! So I love the “put it in your piggy bank” idea. I suppose then that gets cashed in when it is so much and put towards savings? I also had a thought, that the excess $$, even the change, from the food budget could be saved to go towards an expensive meal, like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Those always tend to blow the budget out of the water. I am linking your blog on my blog which is for work at home jobs. Thanks for the awesome post!! I will have to spend some time reading your other posts as well.

  5. October 14, 2008 - 1:18 pm | Permalink

    Great tutorial. It’s nice to have a visual explanation for those of us who are visual and kinesthetic learners.

    p.s. you sound slightly like dave ramsey with your southern drawal. lol. :)

  6. October 24, 2008 - 10:50 pm | Permalink

    Great video! Your site is great with lots of things to share about saving money.

  7. October 26, 2008 - 1:58 pm | Permalink

    great video! it is nice to see the system in action.

  8. Dave's Gravatar Dave
    November 1, 2008 - 11:00 pm | Permalink

    Bogus. Everybody knows simple, common-sense things like this don’t REALLY work. What we need is a POWERFUL SYSTEM of INSIDER SECRETS for only $19.98. Because everyone knows you get what you pay for.

    And yes, this is sarcasm.

    Nice job. This is stuff we all should have learned when we were chirrens.

  9. tb's Gravatar tb
    November 2, 2008 - 7:40 am | Permalink

    Great video!

  10. monica's Gravatar monica
    November 29, 2008 - 3:30 pm | Permalink

    Thank you so much for the work put in this presentation. I heard of the envelope system, but I’m visual and needed to see it done.I will start right away. I’m sick and tired of overdrafts for a couple of dollars($1.89+$35.00) .
    monica.

  11. December 8, 2008 - 8:14 am | Permalink

    Fantastic video! I think this is one of the best explanations I have heard.

    I personally use the envelope method for budgeting my family’s finances, but I don’t like carrying around all that cash. So I developed an online envelope-based budget tracking system called NeoBudget (www.neobudget.com) that uses virtual envelopes. It has the same psychological benefit as cash envelopes, but I can use my debit card instead.

  12. Kelly's Gravatar Kelly
    January 2, 2009 - 8:56 pm | Permalink

    Very cool. Very convenient. I will do this my next check. I like the whole paying off debt with any left over money. Very cool. I may put any left over money into my vacation or Christmas envelope…

  13. February 17, 2009 - 10:29 pm | Permalink

    works for me great and saves me money . lol the fake cash but hey keep me on track of my cash

  14. don's Gravatar don
    February 28, 2009 - 8:29 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for the suggestions, we are going to tweek it alittle and give it a try.

  15. March 14, 2009 - 10:27 pm | Permalink

    great tutorial!!! everyone should try the cash only budget system – my husband and i have been on the dave ramsey system for the past 8 months – we are hooked. we dare you to try it just for 1 month. you will save money! and for assistance in keeping your money organized and making the cash only system work smoothly – go to http://www.crunchycute.com. they have a variety of tools for starting the cash only system – plus lots of free giveaways!
    good luck to everyone – patty ann

  16. Barb's Gravatar Barb
    April 25, 2009 - 11:29 am | Permalink

    Marvelous video! I will definately take the suggestions from the video to heart! Thank you!!!

  17. May 11, 2009 - 11:47 am | Permalink

    While I do not use this system there is one huge advantage that would persuade me to use a modified version. You know where your receipt is if you need to return something. I am horrible about keeping my receipts!

  18. steve's Gravatar steve
    August 2, 2009 - 12:04 am | Permalink

    Wow, that was a great tutorial. Really, budgeting is just as simple as you described it. All you have to do is what you said and you’re golden.

    As to the danger of losing a month’s worth of cash while carrying the envelopes around, well, it could happen but even if it didI think I’d still be ahead as it would cost me *much* less than I’ve lost through overspending whennot using the envelope system.

    It’s been back to the envelopes for me now after finally deciding that it just is more concrete and practical than any other method. There’s no complexity with which to confuse or delude yourself in the envelope system. Either the dollar bills are there or they aren’t. And you can see how many are left each time you go in to make a purchase so it’s a natural spending moderator.

    One thing I have added is I do have a credit card that I use to buy gas for my car. How I do this and keep it in the envelope system is I have a “gas” envelope and a “Chase Credit Card” envelope. The Chase Credit Card envelope starts the month empty, and what I do is take the cash from the gas envelope and transfer it to the Chase Credit Card envelope when I make the gas purchase. At the end of the month I use that cash in the Chase Credit Card envelope to pay off my credit card.

    That way I get the convenience of not having to wait in line for gas, but still have the concrete limit that I only have what’s in the envelopes to spend.

  19. Deb's Gravatar Deb
    August 8, 2009 - 10:07 pm | Permalink

    I enjoyed watching your video! Next month my husband and I willll begin following a budget because even though we have a great income and no credit card debt we could be saving a lot more money than we already are.

  20. Creative Triplet Mom's Gravatar Creative Triplet Mom
    August 23, 2009 - 11:50 pm | Permalink

    Thank you so much for sharing that tutorial. I just finished reading the Dave Ramsey’s book and want to so get control over my spending. I especially like the idea of writing on the envelope and loose change in a piggy bank. I am forever making my pocketbook heavy with that loose change.

  21. elaine's Gravatar elaine
    October 9, 2009 - 1:14 pm | Permalink

    While I’m paying my bill, my supermarket sometimes gives me coupons to use the next time I’m in the store. If I can use one or more of the coupons (wisely), I keep them in the Money envelope until I’m ready to redeem them. Two uses for one Money envelope! (So I can see what’s inside, I use recycled window envelopes which I’ve received in the mail and turned inside out and reglued.)

  22. Ruby's Gravatar Ruby
    October 14, 2009 - 8:48 pm | Permalink

    Thank you very much!
    Loved the video!
    Straight forward and to the point.
    Good job!
    Much appreciated,
    Ruby

  23. rick's Gravatar rick
    October 16, 2009 - 9:40 am | Permalink

    Great .. Simple and very easy to put in practice

  24. anne's Gravatar anne
    February 19, 2010 - 7:43 pm | Permalink

    Thanks. Seeing and hearing your calm voice helps. I like the details about what to do after with the leftover. The only thing not mentioned is not to get more money if you run out. Also may be easier to writ ethe date/item/amount/balance in a column so you don’t have to scribble all over the envelope if you shop often. Overall I really appreciate this video and its simplicity. It is very supportive and I feel inspired to try the system out…!

  25. Cynthia's Gravatar Cynthia
    April 19, 2010 - 6:16 am | Permalink

    I really enjoyed this tutorial – thank you for taking the time to make this tutorial. I especially appreciated how simple it is and the imagery of the monopoly money! Thank you again! Can you make one for budgeting using this same visual style of tutorial?

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