'Cash stuffing' offers path to savings with fresh take on an old budgeting trick

financialpost.com:

TORONTO — Savannah Dasilva was searching for a budgeting method she could stick to for years to come.

The Toronto student dabbled with Excel spreadsheets, but they got confusing fast, and budgeting apps, which never seemed to do the trick. She even sought help from a credit counselling society but found their system was too “cut and dry” to hook her.

“I tried every single budgeting method that is under the sun and I couldn’t find a single thing that worked for me,” she recently recalled.

“I was kind of at my wit’s end figuring out what is something that is fun and makes sense for my brain.”

It wasn’t until she was browsing YouTube at the end of August 2021, when she found a method that would finally work for her: cash stuffing.

The process involves allocating varying amounts of cash to envelopes or pouches labelled with savings priorities that range from the typical — rent, groceries and utilities — to the more individualized — travel, gifts, pet expenses and entertainment.

Dasilva, who said she grew up in a low-income household and was never properly taught how to budget, quickly embraced the method. She began using it to budget for school and health expenses, start an emergency fund and even for special occasions such as an annual anime convention she attends.

“I’m a visual learner, so being able to see where my money is going … has been extremely helpful,” said Dasilva, who keeps herself accountable by documenting her cash stuffing on her YouTube channel, Sav Budgets.

The cash-stuffing method Dasilva uses is not exactly new — personal finance experts have been recommending similar approaches for decades — but it’s picked up a fervent following in recent years as social media influencers adopted the technique.

YouTube,