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My sister's comment about my 'fun money' made me rethink the whole envelope system | Budgeting Wins - Chatter Central

My sister's comment about my 'fun money' made me rethink the whole envelope system

I've been using the cash envelope method for 3 years now, and I thought I had it down perfectly. But last month my sister watched me put $40 into my 'takeout' envelope and said, 'You budget for things you don't even want anymore, you just like the routine.' Ouch, right? She had a point. I was still setting aside $20 a week for coffee runs even though I stopped buying coffee back in March and started making my own at home in Austin. So I did a full audit of my categories and found $35 a month going to stuff I wasn't actually using. I cut those and bumped my savings account transfer from $150 to $185 a month. But now I'm wondering, is the flexibility of a single 'miscellaneous' pot better than breaking everything out? Has anyone else had feedback that made you realize your budget was more about habit than actual needs, and how did you adjust without losing the discipline?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_paul1mo ago

Man, your sister just walked in and said what every budgeter needs to hear. I still have an envelope for "fun money" that I haven't touched since 2022, so tell me when you figure out the answer.

johnson.faith1mo ago

Ugh, that would sting coming from your own sister but she was right and honestly you handled it way better than most people would. My fiance said something similar last year about my "grocery buffer" envelope that was basically just money sitting there doing nothing, and I had the same wake up call you did. So much of this stuff is muscle memory and the routine feels safe even when the numbers stop making sense, lol. @the_paul you are not alone with that fun money envelope just sitting there collecting dust, mine was a "gifts" envelope I never actually used. What helped me was keeping cash for the stuff I truly spend on every week and putting the rest in one small "whatever" pile, so I still get the hands on feeling without pretending every dollar has a job it quit months ago.