Old school budgeting tactics

General
1

I’ve never been great about budgeting our money but I’m determined now to do it right. Ideally for me, having an allotment of $$ set us aside each month for groceries, bills, etc would work great for me. Thinking of the old school way of budgeting where you’d have multiple envelopes and a certain amount of $$ in each and each envelope was dedicated to different spending categories.

For example, if you told me I’d have $800 at the start of the month to use for groceries and can’t exceed it and anything leftover could be spent on other things I would take that as a challenge and stick to it. In the credit card world we live in it’s harder and harder to force yourself to stick to a budget.

Anyone else have out of the box ideas on staying disciplined?

2

I still budget and track spending by categories, just without the cash-stuffed envelopes. Now it’s just numbers on a page/screen.

3

Another vote for YNAB! It’s like an electronic envelope system. Thanks to YNAB, I’m setting aside money for future expenses, and my bank accounts are slowly growing. I use the app manually—it’s almost like a game

4

Set up an automatic withdrawal to a savings account at a different bank. It helps hide money and builds up quickly

5

I cash budget for household expenses and use buckets on Ally for visuals. I also save dollar bills with my initial—they add up and make saving fun

6

Never once in my life have I made a budget, I am just a natural saver and most enjoy watching money getting stacked so anything I buy has to be bought and it is never enough to put a dent in my savings.

7

Never once in my life have I had a high enough income to do what you do.

8

Consider cutting unnecessary expenses! Aim to save at least 30-40% of your income; if not, your finances need fixing

9

Many manage their finances well, but saving 30-40% may not be feasible for everyone. I’m confident I’ll retire comfortably