Venmo vs cash envelope system for 6 months straight

My girlfriend and I tried going fully cashless with Venmo for every shared expense back in January. Groceries, rent split, eating out, all through the app. After 6 months we switched back to a cash envelope system because Venmo kept showing us what each other was buying separately. I saw she spent $35 at Target on stuff I didn't know about. She saw my $12 coffee runs 3 times a week. It created this weird tension and surveillance vibe. Cash just feels private and final with no receipts floating around in an app. Has anyone else felt like digital payments give your partner too much visibility into your spending?

3 comments

3 Comments

baker.holly1mo ago

My buddy Mark did the Venmo thing with his fiance for about three months. He told me she freaked out when she saw he paid $18 for just a burrito and a beer at this place downtown, thought he was wasting money. But she was spending like $40 a week at Starbucks without telling him, so it went both ways really fast. They ended up going back to cash too, said the app made them feel like they were auditing each other instead of just living.

corap211mo ago

We split everything 50/50 on a joint account and use separate cards for personal stuff, no drama.

ward.jamie1mo ago

Same here, we switched to a joint account for bills only and kept separate cards for our own stuff.

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