Does anyone do this? Do you find it works for you? Any do's/dont's? What are you categories?

Thanks for any help! I'd like to start this for March 1st if possible!

dont over do on the categories. I would have one evelope for all your grocery/cleaning/paper product/and pet . Some people like to seperate all these things but really if you think about it they belong in the same group. I dont do it myself but Im going to start it this month. SO I could use any advise that anyone has.

I started last month. So far we are doing so-so. My dh blew his and is spending more on the checkcard, no real surprise there.... I went way over on groceries but I did all my bulk shopping at costco so it's not so bad b/c next few weeks won't spend much of anything. I over budgeted some, like gas, since the snow storms and dh being home and me not going anywhere we have spend hardly anything. Which is good b/c that extra money went to costco! Almost all my bills are paid automatically with my check card through my online bill pay, so I tried to think of everything I used to pay for with my checkcard and make envelopes based on that. I do think I have too many envelopes but for just starting out I'm doing pretty good.
My catagories:
Groceries (this is costco and grocery store)
Target (this is the store I go to for diapers, personal items, bread, etc, so instead of combining it with groceries I made it a seperate one)
Gas
Eating Out
Kid's Clothes and shoes
Dh's clothes and shoes
My clothes and shoes
Haircuts
Auto Main.
Household Expenses (this one just got created this week b/c we had the plumber come out)
Dry Cleaners
Christmas 2007
dh's spend $
My spend $
Blow $ (we don't have an entertainment envelope I consider this one like that- so this is the money we have to spend when we go out places on the weekends)
Homeschool Supplies
Kid's bdays
My county personal property tax on our cars which is $1000 every October and was quiet a shock for me when we first moved here from TX. I mean hello I paid taxes when I bought the car! I still can't get over this tax!

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I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do. -Edward Hale

Stacia- Tax on your cars, that would be enough to make me walk.

i kind of do the envelope system mine is just written on envelopes there is not actually cash in them i just deduct then use my bank acct that works better for us but is still the same principle just a little more modernized...you need to be disiplined though.

We do envelopes, too, and while I agree with making all "groceries" including paper products, etc. into one, I totally think that seperating everything else has worked the best for us. If we make an envelope for EVERYTHING, it is seldom that a suprise pops up and knocks us on our butt, kwim?!? We have the following:
Groceries
Kids' School Lunches
Clothing
Haircuts
Tags/Vehicle Maintenance
Dr/Rx's
Eating Out
Misc
Christmas (this has been a HUGE help here!)
Trips home (we live ten hours from home.)
Mad Money for dh and I
Tithe
Gifts
Phone/Cable
Electricity/Water (we do these seperate from phone/cable because we pay them on opposite paydays!)
Savings
Gas
Preschool

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Shaking in my boots (well, if I was wearing them in the middle of summer!), but glad to be back!

I've just started it for the month of March. I've been keeping a calendar of expenses for a couple months so I can kind of see how much is going to what and then came up with a goal for each envelope. I'm only doing 3 envelopes to start with.
Groceries $300
Gas $ 150
Misc.: $200 which includes things like school lunches, clothes, birthday parties, field trips and many other little things that pop up.

This will be my 1st month and I will continue to track all of my expenses on my calendar and then adjust the envelopes the next month until I find amounts that I think really are realistic. That way I can be sure to stick to them.

Any extra leftover $ that I don't spend from the envelopes, if there is any, will go into our vacation change jar.

I was debating whether or not to actually put cash in the envelopes or just write in on ther outside, I think if I have the actual cash in hand it will make me more honost about the system.

While I don't actually follow an envelope, each payday I pull out the money I can spend that not for utiliies, car and house payments, ect.

I pull out all grocery, lunch, and extra curricular money. I also do my bi-weekly grocery shopping the day after payday. This way I know exactly what I have left and am not likely to overspend because if it isn't in my purse it isn't happening.

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Kristi
Mom to Eric, Alex, and Taylor
Happily Married to Joe:love:

Okay so I disagree a little - but I think everyone's cash system is SO personal. I've found that seperating everything has worked the best for us.

Like Blessed with 6 said - If we make an envelope for EVERYTHING, it is seldom that a suprise pops up and knocks us on our butt.

We have the following:
Groceries

Meals Out

Clothing - a seperate category for each of us and then a small 5.00/mo clothing repair envelope

Haircuts

Vehicle Maintenance - we have a larger account in savings, but keep a small one for oil changes, flat repairs, etc...

Car registration

Allowance - one for each of us

Blow - just a few extra dollars for if I go over on a category, need an extra this or that

Sports - a category for dance & swimming & softball in our home

Craft - just 10.00 per month for art supplies (a big hit in our home)

Entertainment

Office supplies - we have a seperate account in savings for computer replacement and bigger ticket items

Home Decor

Organizing (my obsession is to get this house simplified to the max so I spend money each month on things like rubbermaids, closet hangers, etc....)

Pet - food, Rx, etc...

Vet - this is an account in our savings versus monthly envelopes

Charity/Donations (this does not include tithe, just donations kids ask for, to mail packages to a "adopted solider", I gave a homeless person money out of this account recently, etc...

Lawn, Bug & Garage - things for garage, to get rid of bugs, fertilizer, sprinkler parts, grass seed, etc...

Subscriptions - I have one account for XM radio, newspaper & one for magazines

Christmas (this has been a HUGE help here!) - I actually put mine in savings

Gifts, Parties, Cards - this is all one envelope and does NOT include ChristmaB

Babysitter

Home maintenance - just like vehicle this is a small envelope and is for smaller home maintenance items, we have a seperate account allocation in savings for bigger ticket items

Photography - to print photos, go to get professional ones, etc...

Hygiene, Paper Products, Over the Counter Meds, Cleaning supplies... I put all this in one envelope vs. in with grocery because when I was tracking our expenses last May - July before I began the system I realized how much I spent here and wanted to keep track of it seperately from grocery.

Church activity - we are always buying a new book for Sunday school or taking a Wednesday night class, etc...

School supplies - I save all year

Then I have a refund receipts envelope & a checking envelope (if I need to buy something with my card - like via internet I put money from a cash envelope in this one to deposit at the bank).

Also, I've catergorized this all in an excel spreadsheet, color coded (autowithdrawl, cash, check, pretax (401K & flex plan), etc....), then I put in seperate colums 1's, 5's, 10's, 20's, 50's, 100's & I put a number in the line for how many of each bill I need per category - for example if I need 20 dollars for babysitting & I pay the girl $5.00 per hour I will put the number 4 under the 5's column in the babysitting row - then I created a pivot table to tell me how many of each dollar amount I need - then I print it out to take to the bank each payday. I've also catergorized which envelope categories, bills, etc... come out of each check. So the amounts and pivot tables are different for each paycheck. I've also done a detailed saving account plan where I allocate how much of each paycheck's savings go to which categories. This all sounds like a lot of work, but is easy once you get it set up. I can email anyone who is interested the excel file I use.

Also, I use a big check envelope (you know the kind that is thin and long and has 13 pockets). I broke each set of envelopes into categories and put the envelopes behind the appropriate tabs. Then in the front I put the checking envelope, deposit slips, a pen, small post-it notes (in case I borrow from one envelope I can make a notation immediately), coupons I use frequently, etc...

Sorry for the book - but I'm passionate about this as it has changed our lives and saved us TONS and TONS of money and peace of mind.

Erica

Wow Erica that is impressive! I really like your check holder with the 13 envelopes idea, is that something you can buy at Walmart or an office supply store?

We do envelopes also, but a simplified version. We have an envelope for:

Gas
Car insurance
Medical
Christmas
Other holidays/birthdays
vacation