I’m really lazy, so I use the jar method (they article calls it cash stuffing or the envelope method). But I use multiple accounts and automated transfers.
Basically: I have one account for personal spending, one for bills, one for insurance, one for groceries, one for vacation money, etc. I get paid regularly, so I have automated transfers move money into the appropriate accounts.
When it comes time to make an expense in the given category (e.g. insurance), I pay it out of the appropriate account.
The benefits
I don’t need to think about it after it’s set.
If I overspend in a category, it doesn’t reduce cash available in other categories.
It’s easy to tell if my budget is wrong: ie, if an account is building up cash, or doesn’t have enough money, it’s time to revisit the budget.
The first item is the most important to me. I’m not consistent enough to manage a spreadsheet.
Because being user-friendly is way, way, way more important than things like privacy, not being bombarded by ads,
People gravitate to the technology that they can use.
I live in a small town. Every business and service has a Facebook group because it’s usable. A couple of stalwarts maintain web pages but they’re full of inaccurate information because they’re too hard to update. The Facebook groups, on the other hand, are constantly up-to-date, and the owners are quick to respond to any comment on them.
That’s before you get to network effects. Everyone in the town uses Facebook. So when kids ask for a messaging or social media account, they ask for a Facebook product so they can talk to their friends and family.
It’s incredibly shitty. Everyone in town would agree with your sentiment, but they bounce off competing products. The effort involved in hosting a service isn’t a higher perceived cost than the ads, privacy invasion, etc.
I wore a Utilikilt for a while. They’re surprisingly uncomfortable. Sitting in a kilt requires effort. The material is a heavy denim, which is hot and doesn’t fall nicely. I expected the breeze to be enjoyable. It’s not.
I was like “this Lemmite gets it,” until I got to the Interstellar part.
But I’m glad we have common ground on the shit show that is Inception. It felt incredibly long. I don’t know if it was because I was bored, or if it’s genuinely six hours long.