When it comes to saving, you may have tried everything - putting a chunk of money into savings on payday, cutting down on takeaways and deleting those tempting online shopping apps. However, with all of that, the urge to dip back into your savings when the end of the month rolls around can still be too much to resist. 

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So if you’re looking for an all new way to budget and save, this is an introduction to cash stuffing, an all cash budgeting method. To put it simply, you have envelopes for each and every category in your budget and physically put the cash into each one every payday. Then when you need to pay for something, you use the cash, making it clear exactly how much you have left. 

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How do I get started?

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Step 1 - Before you start the stuffing process, you will need to set out a budget. Whether pen and paper or an excel spreadsheet works best for you, this will allow you to figure out where your money will go. Split up your expenses (food, bills, subscriptions), spending (beauty treatments, clothes, gifts) and saving (including an emergency fund) and calculate how much you can afford to assign to each category. Some people choose to assign every penny, whereas some like to leave a little buffer - it’s up to you. 

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Step 2 - As the name suggests, this method deals with cash only so it’s time to withdraw your funds. How you do this depends on what you would like to focus on - you may just want to take out your spending money or both spending and saving, completely your call. From your budget, you will know how much money you need for each category, so from there you can work out your note denominations. This is less complicated than it sounds, below is an example to help you out. 

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The first table shows a couple of categories, the budget and then, the notes needed to stuff each envelope. The second table sums up how many of each note you will need to withdraw. This can then be shown at the bank, so that you are given the correct number of each note. 

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Category | Amount | Notes needed

Food | £250 | 5 x £50

Clothes | £50 | 2 x £20, 1 x £10

Holiday Fund | £125 | 2 x £50, 1 x £20, 1 x £5

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Note | Number required

£5 | 1

£10 | 1

£20 | 4

£50 | 7

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Step 3 - Get stuffing! Follow your budget and stuff all of your envelopes. Then, every time you spend, take out the correct amount from each envelope. If there are certain payments that can’t be completed with cash, that’s no problem, just pay with a card and deposit the cash back into your account. Either way, having the cash should make it much easier to see how much you have left for food or gifts. Also, seeing your savings physically build up can be a real motivator! 

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Good luck!

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