Friends! Have any of y’all experimented with our Google Doc budget? I would love to hear if you have! If you haven’t, though, or never intend to, that’s okay, too — I know it’s not for everyone! The key to sticking to a budget is finding a system that works for you, and so, as promised, I’m presenting another option today. Or rather, my dear friend Nancy Ray is presenting another option — the one she uses. Take it away, Nancy! Hello friends! I’m excited to share, in my opinion, the most important key to our budgeting success. It’s called the Envelope System, and if you haven’t heard of it, just ask your grandma. She can probably explain it to you! Before the days of credit and debit cards (which really wasn’t too long ago), this was the most common and effective way to budget your money and give limits to your spending habits, and it’s the method recommended by Dave Ramsey, whom we’ve learned so much from. It works like this: After making your monthly budget, you fill your labeled envelopes with the cash allotted for each specific category. When the money runs out, it runs out! This creates a physical limit on your spending, and it helps pace yourself throughout the month. To better explain, here is an example of our current monthly Envelope System: Food: $400 The food envelope is the amount allotted for all of our grocery shopping and eating out. Some couples like to separate the two categories into two different envelopes – that is completely up to you. (I like to challenge myself each month: If I have leftover money in the envelope, then we get to eat out!) Household: $100 Household expenses include laundry detergent, lightbulbs, home repairs, paper towels, and other recurring