Mr Mojo and the Envelopes

Wow! Mr Mojo is well and truly back today. After doing my post yesterday I was itching to do something inky  but somehow I got sucked into online stuff and well, after that nothing happens. Then last night after the kids had gone to bed I ended up going out to visit a friend of mine and well, after that nothing happens! LOL. So this morning I packed Herself off to school on the bus and Weeself decided that she was happy playing on her own, so I decided to follow her example and headed to my desk. I had about 3 or 4 hours of complete (almost) uninterrupted bliss!!

Now, before I show you what I made I'd like to explain a little of the 'back story' to this item..... Our finances are currently a mess. I think most of you will know the feeling, especially as the pay cuts, inflation, higher taxes, higher fuel costs, and super-inflated grocery costs all hit our pockets. Added to that the fact that hubby hasn't had a pay rise in nearly 6 years, we're carrying two mortgages (long story!) and both cars seem to be determined to be as expensive possible at the moment we're definitely finding it hard going at the moment. Please tell me I'm not alone in this?? Does any of it sound familiar?

Well, I often read the Life as Mom blog and had seen her explain how they got out of debt using a modified form of the Envelope System. I took no notice as I figured this was a 'big American thing that couldn't possibly apply to us'. Then I saw (quite by accident) a video on YouTube on it, a book on Amazon about it and heard another friend talking about it. By that time I was sitting up and taking notice... and finally getting the message that maybe this idea was being presented to me over and over again for. a. reason. The final straw was when I was browsing on my mobile phone only to find an App for it!! So hubby and I have done a budget and labelled up some envelopes and we've been using the system for about 3 weeks now. And it SO WORKS!! Have a look at this video to see how this system works.

My only problem is.... it's not PRETTY. Yep, as a crafter I have to resist the urge to make it pretty. And today I completely failed on the resisting front!! Mr Mojo came back in full force and I went with the flow..... including cutting up an old pair of jeans. Not my usual way of working but I'm soooo pleased with the results....

 

So there it is... Mr Mojo's much-prettier-completely-craftyfied-envelope system. What do you think??