Last year, we went through the Dave Ramsey program, Financial Peace University. It is simply a plan to get back in control of your own finances, as well as an introduction to investments, estate planning and zero balance budgeting. The cornerstone of his budget program is an envelope system. Simply put, you take your paycheck and divide it among envelopes that are labeled for their specific purpose. When the envelope is empty, you are done spending! If you don't have it, don't spend it! I love the simplicity of this system, and we tried it for a while. It did work well, but there were a few areas that it just wasn't logistically possible to carry cash. For instance, the gas money envelope was always a problem. We have two cars, but only one envelope. So if you were out and needed to fill up the tank but the other person had the cash envelope, you were out of luck. Face it, the world we live in is based on electronics. I'm all for keeping cash around-especially if there's some sort of catastrophic event and the power is down. You don't really want to wake up one morning and have no access to your accounts. But day to day life runs on computers and cards. This handy little app helps bridge the gap between the two worlds. It's a virtual envelope system. You will always spend less when you buy with cash. It's much harder to let go of that green paper than it is to swipe a card. But this app will let you see how much is left in each category and gives you a good visual to replace the "pain" of paying with cash. We are currently working on a major budget overhaul now that Jared has begun his new position and we have a better picture of what's in front of us. I can't wait to start using this program to help us keep on track!
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