TikTok Trend Sees Young People Controlling their Budgets with Cash
Jul 27, 2022
On TikTok, videos under the #cashstuffing hashtag have sailed past 350 million views as young people are discovering a time-honoured way of saving money and paying off debts with a simple cash-based technique.
As the cost of living rises worldwide—in the U.S., consumer prices rose 8.5 percent in March, representing the greatest increase since 1981—personal budgets are getting tighter and people are becoming more aware of how they spend their money.
CNBC spoke to London-based thirtysomething Yasmine Camilla, who said her energy bill had doubled ‘almost overnight’ and filling up her car now cost 30 to 40 percent more than previously. While she used to simply fill up whenever she needed, paying on a card without even thinking about the cost, she has now taken to buying petrol based on how much cash she has in order to stay in control of her spending.
I fill the petrol up based on how much cash I have. It’s more controlled and planned. I can decide to cut budget out from some other place.
Yasmine recently told her followers she has been placing cash into binders labelled with categories such as rent, food, savings and sinking funds. Having used the ‘cash stuffing’ system since September, she says she has become more mindful of her expenses and better able to restrict her spending. She has even been able to start saving for the first time.
Before there were banks and ATMs, people paid for stuff with cash. They would put what they owed into envelopes, label it with what they needed to pay… This is a pretty old concept, which has just been revived.
With almost 14,000 followers on TikTok, Canada-based Lisa of BeeBudgeting says fuel costs have become a serious challenge, but cash stuffing has helped ‘tremendously’ and she has been able to adjust her expenses to accommodate the increased bills.
While the specific financial struggles vary by country and person—with some suffering most from higher food prices while others are hardest hit by fuel and energy prices—cash is becoming increasingly relevant as a tool for staying within budgets and avoiding debt.