Do people really need a financial adviser to tell them how to deal with money?
When you have financial problems, there could be only three reasons:
1. you don't earn enough.
2. you spend too much.
3. 1 and 2.
If you can't even figure out which one, you're too dumb to do well with or without a financial adviser.

Always used the envelope system. My parents did that too.

ILs and DH has poor "saving habits". I took over the reins and our credit ratings soared, savings increased.

Once we were on stable financial grounds, he took over finances again. We have once again become the wasteful Starbucks family.

We use Easy Envelope, an app on our phones. I put in the amount of discretionary income for each category at the beginning of the month and we input each transaction as it occurs. It has worked well because we can see how much s left in each category at any time. The key is that you have to use it and make sure you input every transaction.

OP here. I just wanted to thank the user who suggested YNAB. My husband and I are on the free trial, but I think we'll end up buying it. It's been really helpful to see how we spend our money, and having the app on our phones makes it SO much easier and more effective than our old method of filling everything in at the end of the month based on credit card statements.

Anonymous wrote:Prepaid credit cards cost money, don't they? And aren't reloadable. So you are forking out $5 for each, however often you need them.

They are also hard to use certain places.

Withdraw the cash you need for the week. Don't tough the bank account otherwise.

Prepaid credit cards cost money, don't they? And aren't reloadable. So you are forking out $5 for each, however often you need them.

I use the envelope system in the absolutely traditional way: around the first of the month I withdraw the monthly cash for these categories: groceries, eating out, household (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.) entertainment, kids splurge, and "blow." I take it home and split it up - half goes around with me and half stays in the safe until halfway through the month.

It has been HUGELY helpful for us. It is so hard to give people my hard-earned cash that I'm always taking things off the conveyor belt at Target instead of buying them. We estimate that we're saving at least $500/month in "little" things that we wouldn't have thought about before - hitting Subway on the way home, buying extras at Target, getting the giant sized popcorn at the movies, etc.

Works well for us!

I have done the envelope system in the past, and it worked for me. It is very helpful if you arent good at controlling your spending.

We tried it for two weeks with actual envelopes and a week's worth of cash for our eat out budget. It worked fine for me, but my spending was not the problem. DH blew through his budget in two days and just kept using the CCs. If you really want to make the envelope system work, you need to plan your weekly menu ahead of time so you always have enough food for your dinner & lunch the next day and you need to lock up the CCs. If you're not willing to do that, then it won't work.

Anonymous wrote:If you need a financial advisor to tell you to cut spending, an envelope system won't work. Think about that.

What does this even mean? Are you implying that since my financial situation has recently changed and I went to see a financial advisor who made some suggestions about how I allocate my money, that somehow means that I would be incapable of only spending a certain amount of money on certain things each month? How silly you are. Think about that.

If you need a financial advisor to tell you to cut spending, an envelope system won't work. Think about that.

Most financial advisors give really bad advice.

Here is good advice.
Make a budget.
Look at your expenses every month and see where the money is going.
Eat out less often, if you wish to spend less in that category.

You don't need a prepaid card to do all that.

More discussion of this here:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/353383.page

I use YNAB, which is essentially an electronic envelope system. Works v well.

My financial advisor recommended that we cut spending in certain areas, like eating out. He suggested an updated "envelope system" using prepaid credit cards, but admitted that he didn't have a lot of experience using these himself. Do any of you? I'd rather not carry around a wad of cash but it seems like most of the prepaid cards have lots of fees associated with them. I don't find budgeting tools like mint to be enough of an incentive for me so would like to try this method if possible. TIA.