The Envelope System

Yikes. So many good things are happening in the Thompson home.  I need to remember that as I struggle to wake up these days.  Optimism, folks. I need more optimism.  

  We get most of our ideas from others around us.  I remember watching my friend, Samantha, raise her little babies before I had Porter and taking note on things I liked she did.  I wasn't judging AT ALL. My mother taught me better.  But I remember thinking, "Oh! I should do that when I have kids someday."   And I ALWAYS steal Kayla's great ideas. That gal is full of them.  So it isn't surprising that when she talked to me about the Dave Ramsey envelope system I jumped on board. I mean if the Merrells are doing it, we should be doing it too, right?  Luckily, Trent adores the Merrells like I do, and when we saw them put their system into plan on vacation, I knew we had to do it too.   Trent and I have always, always, been good at saving.  We have had a budget since the first month we have been married.  But lately, we have been a little lax.  And when I say lately, I mean for the past like seven months.  We were still saving some money, but we were losing our self-discipline we spent years trying to obtain. I was pretty frustrated.  Also, at the end of every month, I would try and track what we bought at each store and how much we spent on each category.  I couldn't figure it out! I can't remember what I bought at the beginning of July at Walmart?! It could have been for Porter, groceries, medicine, whatever!  We also tried budgeting Apps like Mint, but that was a complete waste too.    Basically, the envelope system is where you create a budget and create a category for every aspect of your life.  We created budget with 16 categories.  Some of our categories are groceries, toiletries, Porter, Date Night, Fast Food, insurance, gas, etc. One of those categories also included Christmas.  By putting money aside each month for Christmas, we aren't spending loads of money at the end of the year buying plane tickets and presents.  We have started preparing for those expenses since August.  It's quite wonderful - Bishop Christensen shared it with us when we were engaged during our monthly meetings.   After you create those categories, you take all of your money out of the bank, and stick the amount of cash you decided in each envelope. We have sixteen envelopes we keep in our safe.  When I need to buy gas, I take the cash out of the "gas envelope," buy the gas, and then put the receipt back in the envelope.  When I buy diapers and wipes for Porter, I do the same.  I take it out of the "Porter" envelope, buy it, and put the receipt back into the envelope.    We have only done it for one month and it was a success.  It would have been even more successful if Trent didn't buy that hunting gun - we all have our vices. But really, it was so... freeing. As dumb as that really sounds.  I love being in control of finances.  I have seen, multiple times, what finances can do to a marriage.  Because of what I have seen, {divorce, stress, blaming, hard feelings} finance is my number one fear. Money makes people say and do crazy things.  I want us to be happy, but I want us to live below our paycheck.  I want us to be smart.    Luckily, Trent feels 100% the same way I do.  He bought into this system Day 1. He loves it. We are no longer asking each other, "When did you buy this?  What is this debit card charge?"  We know. We know that if we have $20 left in fast food money, and we have three weeks until our month ends, we better start cooking real food. It's a reality check for us. It helped me realized, "Hey Kari Anne's frozen custard 3x a week is not part of the budget."   Obviously. This doesn't work for everybody.  I am just so relieved after four years, we finally found a system that works for us.  Thanks for the idea, Merrells!