Cash stuffing, explained (and its digital version).
The cash envelope method, now gone viral. We explain how it works, its limits, and how to do it digitally without handling any cash.
What is cash stuffing?
A simple idea: make your spending limit tangible.
Cash stuffing means dividing your cash into real envelopes, one per spending category. When the envelope is empty, you stop.
The idea is as old as the hills; social media has simply brought it back into fashion.
The physical act makes the limit tangible: you see and touch what is left, category by category.
The downside of going all-cash
Keeping cash at home is not without risk, and not everything can be paid in cash.
Keeping a lot of cash at home carries risks (loss, theft), and notes and coins suit neither card payments nor direct debits.
This is where the digital version takes over, without giving up the logic of the envelopes.
The same envelopes, without handling any cash
Virtual envelopes reproduce the gesture, for card and for cash alike.
An app recreates cash stuffing with virtual envelopes: you allocate, you spend, and the balance updates on its own.
iBudgetAll allows both, and lets you mix them: physical envelopes for cash, virtual ones for your card, in a single budget.
All in English, with no obligation to connect your bank, and no ads or data reselling.
Frequently asked questions
Does cash stuffing work with a bank card?
Do you have to manage everything in cash?
Try the envelope method
Physical or virtual, your choice, in a single budget. 32-day trial, no card.