budgeting with the cash-stuffing method Archives

When Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez wanted to cut back on her food spending, the finance expert and money coach applied what is known as the “cash-stuffing” method of budgeting. She put the cash she allotted to food for the week into an envelope and limited her spending to that amount.

“I could see when I had just 20 bucks left for the week, so it was really helpful,” she says.

Popularized through TikTok videos, cash stuffing has brought back the old-fashioned envelope system of budgeting: You divide up your cash into different envelopes, each dedicated to a category of spending or saving. “It’s a tried and true method,” says Gonzalez, who also founded The First Gen Mentor, a money course where she promotes financial literacy.

In Kimberly Palmer’s latest for the Washington Post, learn what to consider before budgeting with the cash-stuffing method.