Yes, I'm referring to those labeled envelopes that your grandmother and maybe even you mother carried around with her in her purse and used to pay for groceries, gas and various other living expenses.

In fact this was a system many of our mothers and grandmothers used before credit cards and free checking were readily available and believe it or not its a method of finance that many people still use today to manage their family's budget.

I myself had never really seen a use for the system until I started to research ways for my husband and I to start eliminating our debt and I realized that one of our biggest obstacles was staying on budget--especially when it came to things like groceries, gas and extras. 

I started reading a few personal finance books and all of them referenced this system as an option to help us control our spending and maximize our savings.

So after a chat with my husband we decided to give it a shot.  

Of course no ordinary envelopes would do--no sir! Those of you who know me probably guessed that I would have to dress my "envelopes" up a bit ;) And so with the help of a few of my favorite Pixels & Company designers I made this stylin' cash envelope system that fits perfectly inside of my wallet and coordinates too!

 The template and cut files from Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs made this project so simple and easy to customize with these awesome digital papers by Gennifer Bursett and Sugarplum Paperie.

If you're interested in making your own I've included the steps and supplies below. 

Make Your Own Cash Envelope System

What You'll Need:

• Tabbed Envelope Cutting File + Template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs
• Patterned paper (digital or physical)
• Adhesive
• Hole punch
• Coordinating embroidery floss or ribbon
• Circle labels for tabs (optional) 

1. Open each of the envelope templates in your version of photoshop.

2. Clip your favorite digital papers to each of them and save them each as a .png.

3. Open the pngs in Silhouette Studio and size them appropriately for your wallet.

4. Open the cut files included and layer them over top of your png files, resizing if necessary.

-OR-

Use the trace feature in your Silhouette Software to create the cut line for each of your tabbed envelopes.

5. Apply registration marks to each of your envelopes, making sure that all of the cut lines fit within them.

6. Print your envelopes with registration marks.

7. Then load each of your printed envelopes into your Silhouette and cut them.

8. Fold and adhere each of your envelopes.

9. Stack all of your envelopes on top of one another and punch a series of holes just in from the bottom edge. Then use your embroidery floss or ribbon to bind them together.

10. Then label your tabs with 1.25 circle labels or with simple handwritten labels.  

Note: Kelleigh's template + cut files offers you a lot of solutions, including layered templates, printable templates, cut files, etc. So determine whether you are planning to use digital papers or real papers a cutting machine or your trusty scissors and proceed with the method that will work best for you. The method listed above is the method I used, but it's definitely not your only option!