Digital envelope system: a modern take
My wife and I use a digital form of the envelope system. We call it a budget; we record how much we want to allocate each month to spend--for each category of expense--in a spread sheet. Why use prepaid cards? Why not open a bunch of bank accounts and use debit cards from each if you want to separate the money? You could also keep a ledger for each account that you spend from on a smart phone or even in a physical ledger.  The reason for the envelope method is that it psychologically hurts some people to physically part with cash. Once you digitize it in some factor, you lose what is the primary touted benefit, and it's no longer the envelope system. The secondary benefit that--once the budget for one category is gone, it's gone--is only as good as the discipline you have to not rob cash from another envelope; why is this any easier than the discipline of not debiting beyond the bottom of the ledger? So a budget IS a digital version of the envelope system; once the physical cash is removed from the equation, it's definitely not the envelope system. Sorry for the contrarian take on this question, but I've never been a fan of the envelope system for many of the reasons you have described. I guess I'm too young for the cash psychology to work for me. "I definitely get where you're coming from.  The envelope system sounds good, but doesn't appeal to most people under 50 for many of these reasons (physical cash in my hand is just a hassle - it has no appeal or reduced spending affect on me). There are various options for prepaid debit cards such as https://www.netspend.com/ or you could use gift cards for things like gas and groceries (though that likely won't get you duplicate cards or automatic payments).  As far as automatic payments, just set that up through your bank. So it's still not a perfect solution.  I wish there was a better, more straightforward way, but this is the best as far as I know. Update: Ramsey solutions has since launched EveryDollar.  This is Dave's preferred solution for an online ""digital envelope system""." "While Googling answers for a similar personal dilemma I found Mvelopes. I already have a budget but was looking for a digital way for my husband and I to track our purchases so we know when we've ""used the envelope"". It's a free app." "The whole point of the ""envelope system"" as I understand it is that it makes it easy to see that you are staying within your budget: If the envelope still has cash in it, then you still have money to spend on that budget category. If you did this with a bunch of debit cards, you would have to have a way to quickly and easily see the balance on that card for it to work. There is no physical envelope to look in. If your bank lets you check your balance with a cell-phone app I guess that would work. But at that point, why do you need separate debit cards? Just create a spreadsheet and update the numbers as you spend. The balance the bank shows is always going to be a little bit behind, because it takes time for transactions to make it through the system. I've seen on my credit cards that sometimes transactions show up the same day, but other times they can take several days or even a week or more. So keeping a spreadsheet would be more accurate, or at least, more timely. But all that said, I can check my bank balance and my credit card balances on web sites. I've never had a desire to check from a cell phone but at least some banks have such apps -- my daughter tells me she regularly checks her credit card balance from her cell phone. So I don't see why you couldn't do it with off-the-shelf technology. Side not, not really related to your question: I don't really see the point of the envelope system. Personally, I keep my checkbook electronically, using a little accounting app that I wrote myself so it's customized to my needs. I enter fixed bills, like insurance premiums and the mortgage payment, about a month in advance, so I can see that that money is already spoken for and just when it is going out. Besides that, what's the advantage of saying that you allot, say, $50 per month for clothes and $100 for gas for the car and $60 for snacks, and if you use up all your gas money this month than you can't drive anywhere even though you have money left in the clothes and snack envelopes? I mean, it makes good sense to say, ""The mortgage payment is due next week so I can't spend that money on entertainment, I have to keep it to pay the mortgage."" But I don't see the point in saying, ""I can't buy new shoes because the shoe envelope is empty. I've accumulated $5000 in the shampoo account since I went bald and don't use shampoo any more, but that money is off limits for shoes because it's allocated to shampoo.""" "If psychologically there is no difference to you between cash and debit (you should test this over a couple of months on yourself and spouse to make sure), then I suggest two debit cards (one for you and spouse) on your main or separate checking account. If you use Mint you can set budgets for each category (envelope) and when a purchase is made Mint will automatically categorize that transaction and deduct that amount from the correct budget.  For example: If you have a ""Fast Food"" budget set at $100 per month and you use the debit at McDonalds, Mint should automatically categorize it as ""Fast Food"" and deduct the amount from the ""Fast Food"" budget that you set.  If it can't determine a category or gets it wrong, you can just select the proper category. Mint has an iPhone (also Android and Windows phone) app that I find very easy to use. Many people state that they don't have this psychologically difference between spending cash and debit/credit, but I would say that most actually do, especially with small purchases.  It doesn't have anything to do with intellect or knowing that you are actually spending money.  It has more to do with tangibility, and the physical act of handing over cash.  You may not add that soda and candy bar to your purchase if you have visible cash in your wallet that will disappear more quickly.  I lived in Germany for 2 years before debit cards were around or common.  I'm a sharp guy and even though I knew that I paid $100 for the 152 DM, it still kind of felt like spending Monopoly money, especially considering that in the US we are used to coins normally being 25 cents or less and in Germany coins are up to 10 DM (almost $10) and are used more frequently than paper." "I opened several free checking accounts at a local credit union.  One is a ""Deposit"" account where all of my new money goes.  I get paid every two weeks.  Every other Sunday we have our ""Money Day"" where we allocate the money from our Deposit account into our other checking accounts.  I have one designated as a Bills account where all of my bills get paid automatically via bill pay or auto-pay. I created a spreadsheet that calculates how much to save each Money Day for all of my upcoming bills.  This makes it so the amount I save for my bills is essentially equal.  Then I allocate the rest of my deposit money into my other checking accounts.  I have a Grocery, Household, and Main checking accounts but you could use any combination that you want. When we're at the store we check our balances (how much we have left to spend) on our mobile app.  We can't overspend this way.  The key is to make sure you're using your PIN when you use your debit card.  This way it shows up in real-time with your credit union and you've got an accurate balance.  This has worked really well to coordinate spending between me and my wife.  It sounds like it's a lot of work but it's actually really automated.  The best part is that I don't have to do any accounting which means my budget doesn't fail if I'm not entering my transactions or categorizing them. I'm happy to share my spreadsheet if you'd like." Envudu (envudu.com) looks very promising, and I think what they are planning to put out will do essentially everything you want. It's a single prepaid card, but with a connected app. On the app you choose which budget category you're going to spend on next, and then swipe your card. Your purchase gets deducted from that category. There aren't a ton of details yet on their website (e.g., what happens if you try to swipe on a category that doesn't have the funds available?) and there is going to be a $20/year fee, but I think it meets all of your criteria, even though it's a single card--you'll just need to use a smartphone with it.
"At times the issue seems to be one of  reading comprehension and general information processing. Regardless of length or depth, an email allows for both clarity of message and a persistent record to refresh from. Yet people default  to these hugely inefficient meetings.   Modern meetings also seem to suffer from an issue with mob rule. Very rarely do meeting ""coordinators"" do anything but kick off meetings, instead of acting as a whip/coordinator. Everyone puts more value on a faux-friendly workplace than an efficient one, so no one is willing to be the heavy that keeps the meeting focused and on schedule." Not that easy!. There’s millions of lines of code and so much logic added over the years. Programmers would add a comment line and insert the code. No one had time to cleanup or rewrite of remodularize functionality. They just piled on it !. Y2K happened and it corrected and renamed whole bunch of date fields and code to work for rollover year. this is absolutely correct.Take the very simplest of fast food - Subway - and try to automate it.  You will get some sort of 3D printer type device.  It makes no sense.. there is no way it can work. There is no way you can deliver made-to-order food with a computer right now, not even close.   Also, ask yourself, do you want a robot-made pizza in an era of farm-to-table organic free-range etc? Yes, those numbers are all that is needed to withdraw funds, or at least set online payment of bills which you don't owe. Donald Knuth also faced this problem, leading him to cease sending checks as payment for finding errors in his writings. Yes, indeed.  For example, Ford Motor Company's website has a bit about them. Is there any advantage to having an actual physical note instead of a website? You can safeguard them yourself.  Which may or may not be a good thing.  It certainly brings up a bit of hassle and extra costs if you want to sell them.  Though you can have lost certificates replaced, so there is more to it than just having physical possession of the certificates. neobudget.com is a website that does exactly what you are describing. It is set up for electronically using the envelope system of budgeting.   Disclosure: neobudget was founded by a former coworker of mine. Some Canadian banks (RBC for instance), will accept the format  No spaces, no slashes. Transit number must be five digits, if it's not add a 0 to the front. Just had a situation where the European-based system would not accept anything but an IBAN, so I called my bank and that's what they confirmed.  I know this is super late, but thought I would leave it here for future generations to discover. Edit: See comments for an example. Most of them have what is known as an Admin. They are basically a modern secretary. They pre-read all emails, setup all meetings, basically run the day in/day out of the person. Then the person will sit down and answer the curated inbox or forwarded messages. None-fanboy source [here](http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/05/top-android-phone-maker-faces-u-s-import-ban-tuesday/).  Links to the two patents here: ['647 - System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data](http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;d=PALL&amp;p=1&amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&amp;r=1&amp;f=G&amp;l=50&amp;s1=5,946,647.PN.&amp;OS=PN/5,946,647&amp;RS=PN/5,946,647) ['263 - Real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data ](http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;d=PALL&amp;p=1&amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&amp;r=1&amp;f=G&amp;l=50&amp;s1=6,343,263.PN.&amp;OS=PN/6,343,263&amp;RS=PN/6,343,263)  I don't believe '647 will be a real threat because the language it uses means the patent is extremely broad and describes something that is fundamental to the operation of practically every web browser, indexing software and electronic guide on the planet.  Like Samsung's (I think) attempt to injunct the iPhone using its 3G patents, the ITC will likely rule that the technology/system is too critical to modern function and hence cannot be a valid reason for injunction.  '263, however, is a real problem for Android.  My interpretation of the patent is that it's claiming a system where the OS parses data from a wirelessly transmitted stream based on type and offers it to other apps instead of having apps actively request data from the OS.  As I understand it, this is exactly how Android's intent-activity model works.  Because this model of data sharing is at the core of Android and fundamental to its design, it's practically impossible to circumvent without completely rewriting Android, which would break everything.  Furthermore, because there is a clear alternative on how to share data (ie. apps request from OS, OS gives data parsed from stream), the protection used against the 3G injunction attempt against Apple cannot be used here.  Simply put, the ITC can easily put an injunction on HTC on the basis of '263, and if it does, then *all* Android phones can expect to receive similar injunctions very very quickly after that.  It would be nice to see what /r/business thinks any possible injunction may have not only on the stocks of the smartphone companies but also on the entire smartphone market as a whole.  Personally, I think any injunction based on either patent will make the stocks of any Android makers and Google plummet.  It would probably chill the mobile market for a while as investors try to guess just what other patents Apple might be able to use against the remaining platforms of Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.  And then things will probably return to normal, sans Android and the companies that strongly supported it like Samsung, HTC and Motorola.  Samsung and Moto will probably the worst hit, while HTC will end up focusing on WinPhone 7.    Thoughts? this sounds like a course question lol. There are plenty of ways, don't think too deep into it as a question. e-mail, bulletin boards, physical mail, cloud computing/storage and the internet in general has changed the way documents are distributed and obtained. meh,, regardless, it's obvious that the revenue of the USPS will continue to fall with online everything happening.  I would suggest we should start winding it down with full dismantle in 25 years.  There is no need.  Private companies can service our postal needs now. If I designed a system that handled multimillion dollar orders, I'd have the foresight to include a timestamp / order #, so resubmissions didn't generate duplicate charges. But that's probably just me and my small town ways. If you really care about security you need to use the minimum amount of technology required to accomplish your task.  Systems can be mathematically proven correct but it requires exponential cost as complexity increases.  This is why NASA pays about $1,000 per line of code whereas the industry average is $18.  You could certainly build a system out of off the shelf parts, and it would probably work.  But there is no way to prove that a backdoor wasn't inserted at the factory in China or by a malicious developer paid off by some foreign government.  That $4 USB key you have was not designed with nuclear security in mind.  Even if you got the source code proven correctness would cost more than developing it yourself from scratch.  Yet you claim that somehow this unproven system is superior to a proven system in place for decades.  Why because it is flashy?  What extra functionality could it possibly offer? I'd argue that society would likely moved to 100% online delivered to your doorstep before this actually happened, thus removing the need for physical locations, but as someone who actually works at Amazon, yes 100% automation is their long term goal. Fellow Torontonian here - I'm seeing the same things you're seeing, but what worries me the most is the sheer number of people I know in my professional circles who can't so much as use a wrench, and have no clue what extra surprises you might run into when owning, but are attracted by the low mortgage rates into buying 2-3 properties and using them as rental properties purely as an investment. It's not so bad for the detached homes (which tend to be bought up by developers/contractors), but the semidetached and condos are rife with this type of owner. They don't realize that being a landlord is _a job_: things break, you're responsible, and you definitely can't rely on your tenants always acting as reasonable, promptly-paying people.  I move to somewhere else in Toronto about once every 1.5 years, each time researching many units online, and seeing ~20 in person, and while there may be an increase in quality for the detached homes, every other type of rental property's quality is in steep decline as the market fills with all these non-expert, get-rich-quick types of owners.