top of page
1st Reading - ​The Envelope System 
00:00 / 00:00
2nd Reading - ​The Envelope System 
00:00 / 00:00
3rd Reading - ​The Envelope System 
00:00 / 00:00

The Envelope System 

Pam never seemed to have enough money. As soon as she a got a paycheck, it was gone. The last days of the month were very hard; money was scarce. Pam was stressed and unhappy about her finances. 

One day at work, she saw a flyer about a money management class. On the flyer were questions like: “Would you like to pay your bills in full and on time?”; “Would you like to save more money?”; “Would you like to feel more in control of your finances?” Pam answered yes to each question. She knew this class was for her. 

At the class, Pam learned many helpful things. One of the most useful things was the envelope system. It was a fast and easy way for Pam to track where her money was going. 

She labeled an envelope for each spending area. She had separate envelopes for food, gas, savings, rent, phone, etc. From her weekly paychecks, Pam put a planned amount of money in each envelope. In her food envelope, for example, she put sixty dollars each payday, and in the gas envelope she put thirty-five dollars. 

Any time Pam added or removed money from an envelope, she wrote the date, amount, and reason on the envelope. When an envelope was out of cash, Pam was done spending for that area. 

The envelope system helped Pam plan and track her spending. She was paying her bills in full and on time. She even had money left over at the end of the month. Pam was thrilled to be more in control of her money!

0

12

25

34

36

 

50

62

75

86

95

100

 

111

123

134

 

144

153

163

173

185

189

 

199

209

220

223

232

244

257

266

SW ABE Logo.png

© 2015 by Southwest Adult Basic Education

Project made financially possible through grants from:

Southwest Initiative Foundation, Marshall Community Foundation, Southwest Regional Transition Partners, Southwest Adult Basic Education, Marshall Healthcare Partners

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

bottom of page