At a time when the credit card is everywhere, a technique suggests doing just the opposite: using only cash.
Popularized by influencers in the United States under the name “cash stuffing”, in French it is the technique of “budgetary envelopes”.
The principle: withdraw a large part of his salary in cash, then slip it into envelopes divided into categories and stick to this budget.
On Tik Tok, videos under the hashtag "cashstuffing" have more than 730 million views.
Sarah, a 34-year-old civil servant, was looking for a way to better manage her money when she came across one of these videos.
“At first I was quite skeptical, I didn't see myself going back to cash, with paper envelopes.
Then afterwards I said to myself why not give it a try, I have nothing to lose”/ The results come very quickly: no more overdrafts on his bank account, something that was frequent before.
Living in Paris, with a salary of around €1,800 per month, the young woman has to calculate everything.
On her bank account, she leaves the money needed for her charges (rent, electricity, insurance, telephone package) and amounts corresponding to certain expenses that can only be made by credit card.
Sarah also uses “savings” envelopes for larger purchases: “We managed to afford good pillows whereas before we couldn't.
We also created a train ticket budget to be able to go and see our family”.
A pride and also a game: "When I see the tickets it amuses me, it also makes me proud to see what I have managed to save," she says.
The young woman has now opened an Instagram account, under the nickname @monbudget_en_mieux, where she shows the progress of her budget, shares tips for saving.
A real community exists on social networks, and a business was born from this technique.
We now find on online sites the useful accessories to convert to the method of “budgetary envelopes”.
On the etsy online platform, a starter kit costs about forty euros.
