My Cash Envelope Wallet

It has been clear to me my entire adult life, that I am not super good with managing my money! I am not terrible either. I try to be a thrifty shopper and I don't just go blow money like there's no tomorrow! However, I have never really been good about sticking to my budget!

Awhile back, my mom explained to me the cash envelope style to sticking to your budget.  You put your budgeted amounts in cash inside designated envelopes and when the money is gone, it is gone!  I am not sure why I haven't tried this as it is all too easy to use your ATM card!

Then I saw that my dear friend Danielle purchased some fabric cash envelopes from Divvy Up on Etsy and posted them on her blog.

So cute!!!

So I went to purchase them, because I totally agree they are much better to use than regular paper envelopes!  I saw the wallet instead!  Divvy Up sells it for $50, which I felt was a tiny bit expensive since I am trying to save my money, so (not being realistic) I did my usual..."I can do that for much cheaper!!!"

I purchased the pattern on Etsy, and while the instructions are super clear, the process proved to be quite daunting!  The pattern is for the exterior wallet, the inside debit card slots, and five cash envelopes with one zippered pouch all sewed into the interior of the wallet.

Not being a professional seamstress (by any means!) here is my attempt and success (I hope you think so!) of my cash envelope wallet!

I usually just "eye-ball" it when I cut my fabric. lol. However, I decided to try to do it the right way, so I purchased one of these cutting mats and cutter. It was 40% off at JoAnn Fabrics-whoo!

 I really liked these fabrics!  The brown and pink is for the exterior and the blue and white is for the interior.

 Sadly, even with my cutting tools, I ended up with pieces like this! haha HOW DO I DO THIS?!

 Due to my many cutting accidents, I had ran out of the blue and white fabric.  Luckily!! I had some extra fabric left over from a previous sewing disaster with polka dots that matched perfectly with the other colors ! Whoo Hoo!

 After cutting out 9 pieces of fabric, I got to cut out 12 of these bad boys! Ugh. 

 I started on the exterior of the wallet first. 

 Here is the section to hold my cards (hard to see, I realize).  The pattern included an optional vinyl piece sewn into the bottom left one, but I decided to do without.

 The start of the interior cash envelopes that are sewed into the main wallet. 

 They are supposed to snap shut with the magnets, but mine weren't strong enough :(  Oh well!

 The finished product!! Whew! That was a lot of work! Over a three day period, I spent about 8 hours (if you include buying all the stuff!).

The pattern also includes instructions on how to individually label the five cash envelopes.  I like the idea, but didn't purchase the material to do that.  I decided it works better for me this way in case I ever want to change the category the envelope was made for.

Here is the zipper pouch to hold my change!

 It is flawed, but I love it!