I used to swear by spreadsheets but finally switched to an envelope system

For two years I tracked every dollar in Google Sheets and still kept going over budget on groceries. My wife finally sat me down and said 'you're looking at last month's numbers while we're spending this month's cash.' We tried the envelope system just for food and gas back in March, and I've got to say seeing the actual cash disappear from an envelope hits different. Has anyone else found that tracking after the fact just doesn't work as well as using physical cash?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_bailey29d ago

Honestly I was team spreadsheet too but you're right, seeing cash vanish hits way different.

loganhart29d agoMost Upvoted

Funny enough, I used to be all about the numbers on paper too. But man, actually watching that cash stack get smaller every month really changes how you think about things. Something about the physical act of handing over bills makes it feel more real than any spreadsheet ever did. Hard to argue with that kind of proof.