Tried the envelope system for dining out and it backfired HARD

I stuffed $200 cash into an envelope for restaurant meals last month, thinking it would stop me from overspending. Problem was, I ended up hoarding the cash and eating ramen at home for the last two weeks just to feel like I 'won' at budgeting. Has anyone else's discipline turned into something this weird?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan89819d ago

Man, I used to be one of those people who thought the envelope system was foolproof until I read this. Your line about "hoarding the cash and eating ramen" really hit me because I realize I've been doing the same thing with my grocery budget without even noticing. I would always tell myself I was being smart by not spending the cash, but actually I was just treating the envelope like a challenge to beat instead of a tool to help me. It's like the discipline part of my brain took over and forgot the whole point was to still live a normal life. This honestly made me rethink how I approach budgeting overall. How do you balance being responsible without turning it into some weird game against yourself?

johnson.faith15d ago

and tbh @skylerrobinson i think we've all just been tricking ourselves into becoming ramen monks

skylerrobinson19d ago

Hold your horses here. You're looking at this all wrong. That envelope system worked exactly like it was supposed to. You saved money by not blowing it on restaurant food, and you still ate at home. That's not a failure, that's a win. The whole point of budgeting is to keep you from spending money you don't need to spend. If you ended up with cash left over at the end of the month, you beat the system, not the other way around. Treating it like a game is fine because games make you more careful with your cash. Hoarding the envelope is just you being smart, not weird. Maybe the problem is you wanted to eat out that bad, but you didn't need to.