The envelope budgeting method — assign a fixed amount per category, log spending, and see when an envelope runs out.
This tool runs entirely as JavaScript in your browser. the income, envelope allocations, and spending entries you log — all of it stays in this browser’s local storage only, never sent to a server is never transmitted over the network to this site's server or any third party, and is never written to a cookie, to browser storage, or to any log — there is nothing on our end to breach, subpoena, or accidentally leak, because it was never received in the first place. Closing or refreshing this tab clears it completely.
This describes only what this specific tool does with what you type into it. It doesn't cover the rest of this site — see the Privacy Policy for how analytics and advertising cookies are handled elsewhere.
The envelope system assigns a fixed amount to each spending category up front — traditionally in physical cash envelopes, today just as often in a spreadsheet, app, or separate bank account. Once an envelope's money is gone, spending in that category stops until the next month, which is the method's whole point: a hard, visible limit rather than a target you can quietly drift past.
Set an allocation for each envelope, then log actual spending against it as you go — the tool shows what's left in each envelope, and flags clearly once one runs empty or goes negative. Whatever you don't allocate to any envelope is shown as unallocated, available for savings or an unplanned expense.
For an expense that's genuinely annual rather than monthly — an insurance premium, a school fee — divide the yearly amount by 12 and allocate that monthly-equivalent figure to the relevant envelope instead.
It’s shown as empty or negative, in red — the system doesn’t stop you from logging more spending, but the whole point of the method is that you’re meant to stop spending in that category yourself once you see it, or consciously move money from another envelope.
Yes — saved in this browser’s local storage only, tied to this device and browser. A different device or browser starts fresh.
Each has its own envelope here. If either is billed annually, divide the yearly total by 12 and allocate that monthly-equivalent amount instead.
It’s whatever’s left of your income after every envelope’s allocation — available for savings, an emergency buffer, or a category you haven’t set up yet.
Once you have a genuine unallocated amount, those links pass it directly into e309 Calculators’ SIP or Recurring Deposit calculator, so you can see what that amount could grow to if actually invested.
Choose envelopes if you want a hard, visible spending limit per category and tend to overspend without one — it’s the most restrictive of the methods here by design. If you just want a percentage-based starting framework without tracking individual spending, use 50/30/20 or 70/20/10 instead; if you want a journaling, reflection-based approach, use Kakeibo.