DIY Cash Budget Envelopes: Free Printable (2024)

Mark and I aretaking a leap this year and venturing intosomething brand new on the financial front: we’re preparingto try out a cash budget envelope system. I know, your eyebrows just furroweda little, didn’t they? Mine did, too, pretty much for an entire year. Here’s a little background on whatchanged that furrowed brown to an intrigued eyebrow raise that said, “Okay…let’sgive it a go!”

We areboth avid podcast listeners, and one of our favorites of 2014 was The Dave Ramsey Show. For those who may not know, Dave Ramsey is an author and financial advisor who offers advice to callers on how to achieve financial peace. One of my favorite moments on each show is the “debt-free scream” where families actually come to Dave’sstudio in Nashville to share their story of getting out of debt (some of ’em are tear-jerkers, not gonna lie), and then they get to celebrate by counting themselves down to a Braveheart-esque debt-free scream. It’s about as inspirational as it gets. Actually, a fellow blogger and friend, Kelly from View Along the Way, enjoyed a debt-free scream with her husband Andy and their two kids last January. It was such an epic moment!

Anyway, The Dave Ramsey Show has really inspired us to get our financial rears in gear, and we’ve worked hard to accomplish several of his “baby steps”such as building up our emergency fund (which we needed last year when one of our cars kicked the bucket).

While we’ve made great financial progress, one areain which we’re seeking growth this new year is creating andsticking to a monthly budget. We’ve tried using both paper ledgersand Mint.comin the past; however, we’ve never been able to stick to a system for more than a month or two.

What Has Held Us Back

We were bothresistant to the idea the Dave Ramsey envelope system at first, simply because it seemed like such a hassle (and what about our credit card cash rewards?!). I also wondered if it would mean eliminating a lot of the “fun” in our lives like date nights and spontaneous trips. Because with the cash budget envelope system, once the money runs out in an envelope, that’s it for the rest of the month. You can’t “dip” from another envelope.

Yet after hearing testimony after testimony on the podcast about the system actually working for so manypeople, we decidedto stop pre-judging it and at least try it out. What did we have to lose?

The Cash Budget Envelope System

I mean, it makes sense: the idea that it “hurts” a lot more to pay for that iced caramel macchiato in cash rather than simply by scanning my glittering Starbucks Gold card. So, while we may not be earning “rewards” from using our credit cards, we’ll likely be spending less money…a reward of even greater value.

Now, we just beganthis process, but already, we’re seeing the monthly budget not so much as a fun-buster, but as a fun-creator. We’re the ones who get to decide where our money goes, after all, and it’s liberating to actually know how much money we have and set aside our monthly expensesaccording to our financial priorities rather than just flying by the seat of our pants. (And yes, we even created envelopes for each of us entitled “Lauren’s Fun Money” and “Mark’s Fun Money.” So, the fun isn’t over. Nor are my iced caramel macchiatos.)

And as an added incentive to even come in under budget each month, all leftover cash dollars will be put toward a specific savings goal we’re working towardor a specific purchase we plan for. We’ll also have ajar for all change (so the envelopes only house dollars), which we can save up forspecial treats like a massage!

First Things First: Setting a Budget

The first two steps of making the cash budget envelope system a reality for us involved creating Our Budget Binder where we used *printables to writeout our monthlybudget and determined our different spending categories. Because this post was getting mega-long,I spell out that process in a post of its own, so be sure to check that out HERE.

Creating Our Cash Envelopes

Then, came the time to create our cash envelopes. Now, I did a fair bit of research on the different types of envelopes folk have used when adopting this system in the past. I found a lot of templates that were appealing, but none that fit our exact needs.

“No problem! I’ll just DIY my own!” I said to myself. (Oh, how many blog tutorials have been born out of these self-same words.)

We agreed on usingone set of paper envelopes to share rather than two sets. And we wanted them to fit inside our wallets for the convenience factor(unlike the too widesize 6 3/4business envelope).

Also,the “pretty” factor goes a long way with me. A standard white envelope wouldnothelp increase my excitement about trying out the cash budget envelope system; however, creatingmy own pretty ones out of scrapbook paperWOULD!

So, I adapted that standard business envelope to a sizeespecially for the purpose of storing money…

…and one that fitwithin a wallet. Its dimensions are 2.8″ x.6.6″.

These arenotmailing envelopes; these are especially for storing cash(I know the USPS will charge you more for sending mailin non-standard envelope sizes). Nowas long as that’s crystal clear…

I have links to both a printable file and Silhouette cut file that you may download for free within the tutorial below!

Here’s how to use my template to create your own cash budget envelopesout of scrapbook or printer paper.

Tutorial

Step 1. Select your paper of choice.

Use whatever paper type best suits your purpose. I chose to work with a pad of 12″ x 12″cardstock paper(approx. 65 lb) that I picked up at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon around the holidays. I couldn’t find a link to it online but it’s by The Paper Studio and it’s called “Oh So Glam: Specialty Metallic & Foil.”

• PRO: The designs are fancy schmancy and the paper more durable than regular weight paper.
• CON: If you were to fold it within a wallet, it would get crinkly. That’s a risk we’re willing to take!

Step 2. Download the free envelopetemplate.

As promised, I have two FREE downloads for my email newsletter subscribers, so everyone gets to play: afree Silhouette cut file for those of you with a Silhouetteor digital craft-cutter and a free PDF printable for everyone else!

So, if you’d like to subscribe to receive more creative inspiration right in your inbox along with this fab freebie, just sign-up using the nifty form below, and then hop over to your inbox to download your free cash envelope template! {Fine print: this design is for personal use only and is not to be used for commercial purposes. Thanks!}

Step 3. Cut out yourenvelopes!

PDF Printable Instructions:Simply load your paper so the ink prints on the non-decorative side (or interior) of the envelope paper. You’ll cut on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines (see step 4).

Silhouette-ers:Because I designed this envelope with some snazzy perforated fold lines, you’ll need to use the CUT STYLEwindow to turn on and off your cut linesand adjust your blade when cutting the different parts of the design. Once you get in the routine, it’s a fairly speedy process. Here’s the play by play:

1. Load your paper on your mat. (Note: if using thinner paper, I recommend using an old mat that has lost a lot of its stickiness.)

2. Select the center rectangle of the envelope (which will be folded), enter theCUT STYLEwindow (the little scissors symbol in V2), and selectPERFORATE. Make sure the other lines are a faded red, signifyingNO CUT. You should see a dashedline.

3. Then, in your CUT SETTINGS,you want tostart with these custom settings: speed 3, thickness 1, blade 1. Manually set your blade to 1. And if your blade is a bit dull like mine and it doesn’t even make a mark on the paper, then increase it one more level to ablade of 2both in your cut settings and manually. You want it to just barely cut through. You should almost have trouble seeing the dashed cut lines at certain angles. These are just scoring lines to help provide a smoother fold rather than one that really eats up the paper.

It’s also important that you notunload the mat yet. Keep it loaded!

4. With the paper still loaded in the machine, you’re going to go back to yourCUT STYLEwindow and selectNO CUTfor the middle rectangle.

5. Then, selectCUTfor the outer shape. The lines should turn from faded red to solid dark red.

6. Then, change your CUT SETTINGSto match your paper medium. So, for me, I tried the standard cardstock settings using a “test cut.” Again, my blade was dull, so I needed to increase the blade one level to get a clean cut.

And then you’ll repeat the process all over again for your next envelope! Unfortunately, only one envelope fits for each 12″ x 12″ scrapbook page, so if you’re buying individual sheets, definitely opt for a 8.5″ x 11″ size.

Step 4. Fold your envelope.

Follow your dotted score lines and fold up the bottom flap of the envelopeas well as the side flaps…

…which you’ll place adhesive on (I used aScrapbook Adhesives E-Z Runner), and then stick together.

Fold over the top flap of the envelope, and your envelope is done!

Category Labels

I intentionally opted for darker colored envelope paper so that I could apply some contrasting whitevinyl labels for each of our budget categories.

(I’ll share tomorrow why we chose thecategories we did and why we left out other ones like gas, medical, and haircuts.)

I made these vinyl labels with my Silhouette machine and included the cut files in the same cut file shared above; they feature one of my favorite free fonts, Bebas. To see a step-by-step tutorial on creating and cutting vinyl labels, click HERE.

For thosewithout a Silhouette machine, you could easily create your own labels using a sheet of printable labels and the same freeBebasfont! You’d save a bunch of time on weeding vinyl, too…therapeutic though it is.

List Labels

Mark and I decided we’renot going to itemize every single purchase we make, but rather just write the location and total dollar amount on a simple list on the backof the envelope to help us track where our money is going…especially in these early months of trying out the new system. Weexpect we’ll need to adjust ourmonthly budget projections as we go along.

For the list labels,I just stuck a 2″ x 4″ Avery Multi-Use Label on the back of the envelopes. After assessing the data at our monthly budget meetings, we can remove it or replace it with a fresh label, and start over again for the next month.

Gift Cards Have Value, Too!

Not only did we stuff our cash budget envelopes with the allotted money for that month, but with gift cards that been forgotten in the netherregionsof our wallets. Now, they’ll be in the forefronts of our mind!

Here’s a glimpse at what our “ENTERTAINMENT” envelope looks like right now.

Voila!

Here are the completed cash envelopes in action with our first month of cash ready to go. (February can’t come soon enough!)

The current plan is to store them by the front door and grab the envelope(s) we need before leaving the house and return them to their spot upon cominghome.

I’m sure we’ll mess up and forget to bring certain envelopes with us on our errands(which if we stick to Dave Ramsey’ssystem, means we have to drive back home to get the correct envelope rather than pulling from another)…but I’m actually excited to try out the new system rather than dreading it.Especially now that I made these niftyenvelopes just for the task! It really does make it feel all the more official.

Wrap Up

I’ll definitely report back in a few months to let everyone know how it’s going. (Read that update HERE.} To be honest, it’s hard to hold a lot of faith in ourselves after having failed at past budget attempts, but we want to be good stewards of the money God has given us…and we’re willing to work hard to get there, even if it takes a few more attempts. We’re not going to let our fear of failure hold us back from trying.

Note:If you’re interested in learning more about getting out of debt or trying the cash envelope system, check outDave Ramsey’s book, Total Money Makeover.

Your Turn

• Do you keep a monthly budget?
• What system(s) work best for you and your family?
• Anyone else use the cash budget envelope system?
• Do you have tips or recommendations to send our way?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

If you’re looking to get more organized in 2015 then boy do I have some fantastic posts for you to dig into! My Silhouette Challenge friends are also sharing projects on their blogs today on the subject of organization, mostof which highlight vinyl creations. So, be sure to click on the collage below to peruse awealth of inspiration.

1. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 2. Simply Kelly Designs // 3. Daily Dwelling // 4. Ginger Snap Crafts // 5. Our Southern Home // 6. Sowdering About // 7. The Moberg Family // 8. Decor Adventures // 9. Pineapples and Pinecones // 10. Patina Paradise // 11. The Thinking Closet // 12. It Happens in a Blink // 13. Adventures in All Things Food // 14. From Wine to Whine // 15. Practically Functional // 16. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 17. unOriginal Mom // 18. One Dog Woof // 19. Creative Ramblings // 20. My Favorite Finds // 21. Create it. Go! // 22. A Prudent Life // 23. Where The Smiles Have Been // 24. Barb’s Life // 25. Everyday Paper // 26. Pitter and Glink // 27. Peanut Life Adventures // 28. Feto Soap Blog // 29. Our Rosey Life // 30. Two Purple Couches // 31. My Paper Craze // 32. TitiCrafty // 33. Lil Mrs Tori

*Full Disclosure:Dave Ramsey did not sponsor this post (though that would be awesome). This post containsaffiliatelinks, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, The Thinking Closet may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for helping to support this site!

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