If you’ve heard of “cash stuffing,” there’s a good chance it’s because of Jasmine Taylor.
In early 2021, in an effort to get her debt under control and her spending on track, Taylor began using an all-cash budgeting method, divvying up each paycheck into envelopes earmarked for different spending categories. To keep herself accountable, she posted videos of her budgeting journey on TikTok.
At the time, Taylor recalls, the app featured “mostly kids dancing,” but soon she would become an early financial influencer; her account currently has about 672,000 followers.
She has since parlayed her fame into a successful business — Baddies and Budgets — through which she sells money courses, budgeting supplies and other accessories. In 2022, it pulled in about $850,000. This year, it’s on track to clear $1 million.
Even before the business took off, Taylor was reaping financial benefits from her new budgeting method. In the first year of cash stuffing, she paid down $23,000 in student loans and wiped out $9,000 worth of medical and credit card debt.
If you’re looking to rein in your spending and start making progress toward financial goals, Taylor’s preferred budgeting method may be for you. Here’s how it works.
How cash stuffing can change your mindset around money
The cash stuffing method isn’t new. It’s really just a new name for the age-old “envelope method” of budgeting, which predates the use of credit cards. But just because it’s old doesn’t mean it doesn’t work — especially for people who are tempted to overspend using credit.
“Advantages are that it stops building more debt, ensures you spend absolutely no more than you can and it gives money more psychological meaning,” says Christopher Lyman, a certified financial planner at Allied Financial Advisors in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
Swiping for an expense, whether it’s $3 or $50, feels roughly the same, he says. But when you have to count out the money, “you darn well know the difference of three one-dollar bills or…
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