technical question about envelopes/budget

[Deir]

 Do you keep them in your purse? I tend to run places and stop places etc and not always have it totally planned. Do you pull out separate envelopes at a store or just keep track and shuffle around? Or do youtotally plan before leaving the house.

[akitamommy]

I don't actually do the envelope system, but I'm assuming the people who do have all of their trips planned already!

[Maluhia]

When I did this I kept the eating-out and grocery envelopes with me with one week's budget in them. 

[Nitenites]

I usually have my trips planned, so I have the needed envies with me. But when I don't have them with me, but I need to purchase something (like gas for the car or something) I use my debit card. When I get home, I pull the money out of the appropriate envelope equal to what I spent, and put it in our "deposit" envelope. (DH is a bartender, so we make regular trips to the bank to deposit tips.) 

[eirual]

I pull out everything we need for the month (ideally) and divide them into very specific envelopes (If I don't, I can get way too willy-nilly with them) e.g. Gas wk.1, Grocery wk. 1, convenience store wk. 1, clothing (monthly), personal care (monthly), etc.. So they stay at home, but they're kept in grab-and-go useable amounts that I'd feel comfortable taking with me or keeping on me for a bit if need be.

We typically grocery shop on the weekend, so while I grab the weekly groc. money, I grab the weekly gas money too and leave it in the glovebox for when I need it.

We're in super-saving mode, so there aren't many spontaneous stops at the moment, but like Nitenites, I will sometimes use debit, then put aside the money left at home into a deposit envelope (which rarely actually gets deposited, but gets incorporated into next month's budget instead...just less you have to take out next time). If it's a small transaction and $5 isn't going to make or break the month, then I'll sometimes just let it go and move on.

If I know I have the money for something at home, but have another envelope, then I'll rob peter to pay paul and re-arrange it once I get back. 

Ideally though, stops would all be pre-planned to avoid impulse buys and confusion. I find I need lots of little envelopes though, not larger-sums of monthly funds.

[kanga1622]

I generally have my trips planned in advance so take with me what I need.

I do use a coupon organizer (from the dollar store) to keep all my categories though so you could just carry one of those so it is all contained but sorted. I think mine has 6 compartments and you could carry a week's worth of budget in each area so you would not be caught short or trying to repay a category after a spontaneous trip.

[KellyAnnW]

I keep my momey in my purse. We divide our money up by week. I start out with one week's worth of cash and i keep it with me at all times. At first it made me uncomfortable to have several hundred dollars in my purse. But i'm used to it now.

[redvlagrl]

I have a separate thing (like a pencil case) for the grocery money which I tend to keep on me and top up from a monthly envelope. Apart from that, most things are planned spending so I will decant money from the relevent envelope into my wallet and then put the change back.