Savings Envelope
About six months ago, I had an idea to make a Saving Envelope. I don’t mean just an envelope to save money in. And the idea didn’t even start with me. It began with my son.
My son was looking at a savings box called a Cash Vault box. It’s basically a modern piggy bank that lets you keep track of how much money you are saving. I’m not sure if it has a lock, or how you get the money out, because we didn’t get one.
I said, No! You don’t need to spend money on that. I can make one. So I did. And you can, too! (But of course if you’d rather just buy the Savings box, that’s fine with me too!)
You can use my Saving Envelope printable or you can make your own because I’m going to tell you how I did it. (by the way, that 2 is not for a $2 bill. It is so that all the numbers would fit in a rectangle shape!)
How to Make a Saving Envelope
I used Google Sheets, because I knew that it would add up the columns for me so I could get the right amount. It was so much fun, I made several different charts for different amounts. You can also use Excel, if you have that.
You can also use a calculator to add up all the amounts; it will just take a few more minutes to do it that way.
Where Should You Keep a Savings Envelope?
I advise you to keep your envelope in a secure place. I’m not going to tell you where my secure place is because that would be stupid. haha. But think about obscure places where no one else would ever look, not even a robber. A long time ago I heard that you could use an obscure place in your kid’s room. Don’t put it under a mattress or in your sock drawer.
Try not to put your savings envelope in such a good hiding place that you forgot where you put it. Ask me how I know…..
How to Use a Savings Envelope
Glue the printable onto a big manilla envelope. Then whenever you got some birthday money or Christmas money, or money from mowing someone’s grass or selling chicken eggs– anything, tuck it away in your envelope.
Every time you put money in your envelope, mark off how much you put into it. You can put in the specific bill that you mark off, or, you can put in two $10s and mark off one $20 spot.
The way to make this saving method succeed is to sorta forget that you have that envelope. Then you won’t be tempted to spend the money you are saving, on something else like a Chic-Fil-A milkshake.
