Cash stuffing
Etymology
A revival on TikTok around 2021–2022 of the decades-old "envelope method" of budgeting, rebranded as "cash stuffing" and shown in videos of people physically distributing money into labeled binders and envelopes.
noun · /KASH STUF-ing/
Budgeting by withdrawing physical cash and dividing it into labeled envelopes for each spending category.
What it names
It names a tactile approach to self-control: when the "groceries" envelope is empty, that category’s spending stops. Handling real bills makes the limits visceral in a way that tapping a card does not, which is the whole point.
Example
Every payday she does her cash stuffing at the kitchen table, filling each envelope before she spends a cent.
Related idea
A method within the spirit of loud budgeting: loud budgeting is publicly declaring your limits, while cash stuffing is the private, physical system for enforcing them.