I used to hate envelope budgeting until my water heater died

For about two years I kept my money in one big checking account and just tried to keep track in my head. Not great, I know. Last month my water heater started leaking at 6 AM on a Saturday. Plumber quote came in at $850. I had about $200 in savings after bills. I had to borrow from my brother and it felt awful. A friend of mine had been pushing the envelope method forever and I finally gave it a shot. I set up 6 simple cash envelopes for things like groceries, gas, and eating out. Honestly I thought it would feel like a straitjacket but I actually sleep better now. Has anyone else had a budget system they resisted that turned out to really work?

3 comments

3 Comments

rose_cooper11d ago

Yeah "tried to keep track in my head" is a real solid game plan until something breaks.

kai_park10d ago

How many things were you actually keeping track of before it fell apart? Like was it just a couple small things or did you have a whole web of stuff in your head that you thought you had locked down? Ive seen people try to track a whole production line mentally and it always ends the same way, someone forgets one little detail and suddenly everything is off by a half hour. What finally broke the chain for you?

finleyf8810d agoMost Upvoted

Ha! Rose_cooper knows the feeling - my "system" was just organized chaos until it wasn't.