the envelope system, in which you allocate money for certain categories like eating out, shopping, rent, and so on. Once you spend the money for that month, that’s it: You can’t spend more. If it’s really an emergency, you can dip into other envelopes—like your “eating out” envelope—but you’ll have to cut back until you replenish that envelope. These “envelopes” can be figurative (like in YNAB or even Excel) or literally envelopes that you put cash in.
