In an age where the credit card is ubiquitous, one technique suggests doing the exact opposite: using cash only. Popularized by influencers in the US under the name “cash stuffing”, in French it is the technique of “budget envelopes”. The principle: Withdraw a large part of his salary in cash, then put it in envelopes divided into categories and stick to this budget. On Tik Tok, videos tagged 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. “I was quite skeptical at first, I couldn’t imagine going back to cash with paper envelopes. Afterwards I said to myself, give it a try, I have nothing to lose.”/ The results came very quickly: no more overdrafts on his bank account, which used to be a common occurrence. The young woman, who lives in Paris, has to calculate everything with a monthly salary of around 1,800 euros. She leaves in her bank account the necessary money for her utilities (rent, electricity, insurance, telephone package) and amounts corresponding to certain expenses that can only be paid by credit card.
Sarah also uses “Spar” envelopes for larger purchases: “We managed to afford good pillows where we couldn’t before. We have also made a budget for train tickets to be able to visit 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 saved”, 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 and offers tips on how to save.
A real community exists on social networks, and a business was born from this technique. We can now find useful accessories on online sites to switch to the “budget wrapper” method. On the online platform etsy, a starter kit costs around forty euros.