DIY Cash Envelopes

Hello, We R fans, Laura here today. This year one of our goals is to gain more control over our finances. One thing we have learned about but haven’t really implemented yet is the cash envelope system. Basically, this is a way to control spending by allocating certain parts of your budget to be taken out in cash. You take out the cash during the month according to what you have budgeted and then once the money is spent, it is gone!

I tried to keep track of the different categories in my regular wallet, but the amounts were getting all mixed up. So, I created a little DIY cash envelope system to keep me organized in my purse.

To start with, I found some fun papers from the DCWV Playful Icons paper pad. Who says budgeting must be boring? I measured a dollar bill and found that a 3-inch by 7-inch envelope would be perfect to hold my money while allowing me room to add a binding to the side.

Trim the paper using the guide on the envelope punch board. For this project that means 8 ¼” x 8 ¼”. Then, line up one edge of the paper at 2 ¾”. Punch the top of the paper and score.

Rotate the paper 90° counter clockwise. Line up the paper using the score line and the score guide. Punch and score the paper again. Repeat this process on all four sides.

Round the corners on the two shorter sides.

Fold and assemble your envelope using the score lines as your guide. The two longer sides will need to be trimmed to allow the envelope to close. Leave the top open. Repeat this process to create as many envelopes as you need for your system. I created five.

I used the Typecast typewriter to create some labels for the front of the envelopes to know which envelope belonged to a category.

Use the Cinch tool to bind it all together. I wanted to be able to close the envelope at the top, so I only used the 12-hole punches, rather than punching them all the way to the top.

Add the cinch wire and close it up. To have the inner part of the binding inside your booklet, move the front envelope to the back and then cinch. This will have the split part of the binding be on the inside of the back envelope, so it doesn’t get caught on anything.