Thanks to a new TikTok trend, ‘cash stuffing’, I am very enthusiastically on a straight and narrow financial road. Treatment for my irresponsible bank-card swipe attacks. On my desk there's a cute new budgeting journal that I put together with the help of Pinterest. In the front there's a budget that is now, hopefully, set in stone. In it there are expense categories and amounts for every week of the year that I will have to balance faithfully. Of course there are also blank pages for doodles, mind maps, plans and projects. All focused on my finances. At the back of the journal I have filed several plastic envelopes. On them are the names of my various expenses for the month: groceries, petrol, stationery, coffee shops, treats, clothes, hairdresser, pharmacy, gifts, Christmas fund, flight fund, emergency fund, investment supplement.
Each month, after my fixed deductions such as medical aid and insurance, I withdraw the remaining cash and divide it between the envelopes according to what I am allowed to spend on the category in question. The amount in the envelopes doesn't always cover the full expense, but it's a mini savings plan, because if, for example, I place money in my flight fund every month for six months, I will be able to visit my child.
