So you’re working on your finances as part of your annual goals this year. You look up budgeting videos in the planner community to get inspiration and learn that everyone is using cash. But you do most of your shopping online. How do you make cash stuffing work for you and your digital spending habits?
I was in that same boat at the end of last year. As I transition from stay at home mom to work at home mom, my goal is to contribute more significantly to our household budget. I found YNAB and everything fell into place. Now I have a simple path forward now and I’m already seeing major progress on this goal.

What is YNAB?
YNAB stands for You Need a Budget. It is pronounced Why-Nab. The purpose is to help you manage your finances using a zero-based budgeting system. It is both a web app and a device app that sync together.
YNAB is different from other budgeting systems. It doesn’t really care where your money is once you have it. YNAB really only cares where that money is going to go.
How to use Cash Envelopes for Shopping Online
The reason I found YNAB in the first place is because of cash stuffing. The planner community is really into cash stuffing! Videos of beautiful budget setups with multiple binders and pretty transparent envelopes are everywhere!
Sidenote, we actually used to do cash envelopes before they got popular. I definitely remember the weird looks I’d get when I’d pull a regular white mailing envelope out of my purse with “groceries” hand written on it with a blue ballpoint pen.
Online Spending and the Cash Stuffing Process
These days, most of my shopping is done online. I order groceries online and send payments to my son’s tennis coach. I know many people have systems for how they handle physical cash envelopes with online spending. Some people visit the bank often to deposit the money they withdrew. Other people use prop money.
This process is important for people who need that tangible reminder of how much money they are spending. It’s also important because the act of withdrawing the cash, counting it out, dividing it up, and then going back to the bank with it keeps them “in their money.” Basically, they are being mindful and intentional with their money in this way and that is the most important thing.
Cash Stuffing — But Easier
I have a strong aversion to complicating things. I love to keep it simple. Simplicity frees up my mental energy to manage all of the other things I need to manage. The extra steps it would take to deal with using cash envelopes for online shopping just doesn’t work for me. YNAB provides me with a way to keep my money in the bank but also assign it jobs in my zero-based budget.
Overview of my Actual YNAB Budget
My family has used a different budgeting system for decades for our joint finances and household bills. It’s an Excel spreadsheet that my husband developed long before online banking was robust as it is now. It works for us and we won’t be changing that.
My YNAB budget is only the portion of our finances that comes from the income that I earn through my channel and planner printables shop. You won’t see all the basic expenses that you’d normally see in a family budget, such as our mortgage or utilities, etc. However, you should be able to get the idea.
You can use the Accounts view to see a transaction register. This view may be similar to your current budgeting app or even your check register (remember those?!). You can also use the Budget view, which is where you will work with your digital cash envelopes.
YNAB Budget View

The YNAB budget view is where the magic happens. This is where you divide up your money and give it a job. There are categories and targets. It is all totally customizable. I will relate it to the cash stuffing videos you may be familiar with. I use the category as the binder, and the target is the envelope.
YNAB Categories are Cash Binders

Each category in YNAB represents a binder. For example, I have a “high priority” category. When expanded, the category has different targets inside, such as groceries or school lunch money. These are the things that I need to make sure I pay every single month. You might see someone’s high priority binder with an envelope each for rent and utilities.
YNAB Targets are Cash Envelopes

Each target (groceries or lunch money) represents a single cash envelope inside your binder. In YNAB, targets can be configured differently to accommodate for the unique ways you may need to use that money. In my high priority category, mine tend to be the “needed for spending” target type. This means I need to spend that money every month.
How to Use an Online Cash Envelope System
Stuffing my Digital Cash Envelopes
I budget $125 a week for groceries. YNAB turns the progress bar for that category green when I assign money. Yay! If I only assign some of the money I need, it turns it yellow to let me know I’m making progress. Another yay! This is the solution to cash stuffing money for online spending.
Spending from my Online Cash Envelopes
When I order groceries and have them delivered via Walmart+, it is an online purchase. When the transaction hits my bank account, YNAB catches it and gives me a notification that I should categorize it. It’s a simple process that allows me to choose from a drop down of all my digital cash envelopes. That way the app knows from which envelope to remove the cash that I had set aside for groceries. It’s so easy. I love that it’s not so automated that I don’t see what is going on with my money.
Manage Your Grocery Budget Well
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Spending Actual Cash from my Wallet

I also carry around actual cash. Seeing real money when spending is great for staying on track with your spending goals. Cash stuffing for my wallet is all low priority. I use cash for fun money spending, drive through runs or tips for dining out, and quick trips into the grocery store (not a full weekly shop). I keep some dividers in my wallet to keep these categories separate.
Using YNAB and Digital Cash Envelopes with My Paper Planner
Simple Budget Planning System
I don’t keep track of many budgeting related items in my paper planner. It is not necessary for me at this season of life to double enter it. I check YNAB multiple times a day, so I don’t need a reminder about paying bills in my paper planner. The app sends me notifications when transactions go through my bank. This way I’m able to easily check them when it happens.
Budgeting Planner Stickers
I do like to keep some cute icon stickers on my monthly calendar. The stack of cash reminds me to transfer money between accounts. The calculator reminds me to review my budget in YNAB. My favorite icons come from PlannerKate. You can save 20% with my code KK20.
Budgeting Sticky Notes

I also use printable sticky notes functionally in my planner to track my spending habits. In February, I am using the No Spend monthly tracker to check off the days that complete my no buy challenge. I like that the boxes are large enough to write in the amount I might spend some unplanned money. Seeing it all in one spot encourages me to stick with it. I love that I can move the sticky note from week to week. We all know as soon as we turn the page, we’re likely to forget what happened before. (Is that just me?). You can get a 6 pack of budgeting themed printable sticky notes in my shop.
Make Cash Stuffing Work for You
It’s important for me to keep things simple and functional in my planning system. Once a system gets too complicated, I start to lose interest. Once there is too much friction associated with the next step on my journey, I’m likely to abandon it. Having finances under control so that I can make progress towards those goals is so important. Many of my other goals need some kind of monetary contribution in order to proceed. Having a way to budget for those things is crucial to achieving what I want to do.
I know how helpful the cash stuffing and money envelope budgeting system is for many. But I also knew it wouldn’t work for me and my specific needs at this season of life. It was necessary to find a way to incorporate the principles of cash envelopes and zero-based budgeting into my process in a way that works for me. YNAB provides a way for me to create digital cash envelopes for online spending so that I can make progress on my financial goals this year.
If this sounds very cool to you and you would like to try YNAB, they offer a 34 day risk-free trial. You don’t enter any credit card info. You get full access to all the tools you’d get with a subscription. I’m not naturally into finance, so spending money on budgeting is not my favorite, but I can already say it has been one of the best things I could have done for myself this year.
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