Free Cash Envelope Templates

Cash Envelope Template: What Is It?

A Cash Envelope refers to a paper container that stores the banknotes of a person or family that decided to keep track of their expenses. Many people opt for physically managing their money instead of using credit cards and various digital methods to understand their living expenses. This way, you will have a chance to see where your money is going every month, become more disciplined, develop healthier financial habits, and start saving money once you learn what parts of your budget can be adjusted - in a few months, you will create a budget that works for you.

Check out our library below for a full list of Cash Envelope templates.

How to Start a Cash Envelope System?

Follow these instructions to master your budget with a Cash Envelope system:

1. Decide what budget categories you need to take care of constantly. Most people spend their money on housing (rent and utilities), groceries, obligatory fees and payments (for instance, insurance and loans), clothes, medical expenses, and recreation. Even if you are struggling financially and looking for a way to monitor your budget closely, consider saving a small sum of money every month - prepare a separate envelope for the cash you will not spend this month; even with a few dollars left intact every month you will have an opportunity to build an emergency fund for the future.

2. Using information from your financial documentation and relying on your experience and expectations, divide the cash you have and put it in separate envelopes or pouches. While it may be difficult to predict how much money you will spend on groceries or entertainment during the upcoming months, some of the payments are known in advance - for example, you do not have to guess how much you owe in rent or loans.

3. Work on a document that will serve as a Cash Envelope tracker. It should look like a table recording the dates you put the money inside every envelope, the title of the budget category, the amount of cash you have added, and the total amount of money inside the envelope. Update the spreadsheet every time you get paid or receive any alternative income replenishing your cash.

4. Regularly check how much money remains in the envelope by the end of the week, two weeks, and month. This is how you will be able to determine whether your spending goals are realistic, how feasible it would be to revise the budget and possibly put some of your cash in the savings envelope, and reflect on potential expenses you will incur over the next few weeks or months. If you are setting a budget for your entire family, it would help you to discuss the matter with them, reflect on your spending habits together, and figure out the right solution that will benefit everyone in the household.

How to Make a Cash Envelope?

Here are some Cash Envelope ideas you should take into account when making paper containers for your money:

1. You get to determine the Cash Envelope size depending on the currency you use regularly and the number of banknotes at your disposal; we recommend you to go for a 4 x 7 inch Cash Envelope template and see if the money you have allocated to different budget categories fits in it.

2. Take a sheet of paper, fold it three times around a stack of cash, and crease the folds - this is the easiest way to store money keeping it separate. If you want to create a more traditional DIY Cash Envelope, fold the paper and glue or staple two folds together - the third one will become an envelope flap securing the cash inside the container.

3. Identify the envelopes by putting labels on them or simply writing down the budget categories in a visible place so that you do not waste time looking for the right item when you need money. While you can make budgeting more fun by creating envelopes out of patterned paper or adding stickers to them, it is important to recognize the right envelope quickly which is why the name of the budget category matters.

Haven't found the template you're looking for? Take a look at the related templates below:

• Mini Envelope Template;
• A7 Envelope Template;
• A6 Envelope Template.