Jasmine Taylor turned cash stop into Baddies and Budgets business
A Texas woman who was nearly $80,000 deep in debt has gone viral for using a savings method called cash stuffing to pay it all off.
Jasmine Taylor, 31, lives in Amarillo, Texas. By January 2021, she owed about $60,000 in student loans, $9,000 in credit card debt and about $10,000 in medical debt, she told USA TODAY.
Taylor has a degree in applied science and was trying to get her teaching certification. To make money, she did everything she could think of: food and prescription delivery, coupons, online surveys, transcribing and more.
She was watching YouTube when she found out about cash stuffing, a budgeting system where individuals take money for different categories of expenses and put the money in envelopes.
“I turned 30 that year and I was just tired of being in financial distress,”[ads1]; Taylor said. “I had a degree, no job, tons of debt and just no working budget.”
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Traditional savings methods didn’t work for Taylor. She would transfer money to her savings account one day, only to transfer it back to her checking account the next day.
In February 2021, she decided to try cash stuffing; to make sure she stuck to her budget plan, she started sharing her experiences on social media.
“There was just something about tangibly handling the cash and seeing my money saved up in the envelopes that really clicked a switch in my head,” Taylor said. “I could give you a $100 bill right now and a debit card with $100. I guarantee you it would be a lot easier to swipe that card than it would be to break $100. We just have some kind of connection with physical cash.”
And as she shared her experiences, people were drawn to the envelopes, binders and other savings tools she used, many of which Taylor made herself.
Taylor didn’t have a steady income yet, so she used the stimulus check in the spring of 2021 to kickstart her Baddies & Budgets business.
She now runs the company full-time, selling glittery binders with cash envelopes, wallets for everyday expenses. Taylor also makes money from YouTube and other social media collaborations.
Her business venture has allowed her to pay off the debt, she said.
“From April to December 2021, I paid off $30,000 in debt and the rest of that I paid off in 2022,” she said.
She chose to try the debt snowball method while working on her finances. She started with smaller debts and then progressed to larger amounts, calling her financial feat “surreal.”
“It kind of feels hopeless when you get this far into a bad financial situation,” Taylor said.
How does cash stuffing work?
Taylor said cash jams involve two different types of envelopes:
- Envelopes you carry with you for variable expenses (gas, groceries, eating out)
- Envelopes for lowering funds (car insurance/maintenance, travel, holidays)
“Instead of waiting until you get a nail in the tire and then you have to pay $300 for a tire, you put away $10 or $12 every paycheck,” Taylor said. “If something happens to your car, you can go to your envelope, get the money and pay for it.”
And don’t forget the Christmas shopping. If savers can start a Christmas fund in January and put $21 into it each week, they’ll have about $1,100 by Christmas, she said.
In general, Taylor said it’s a good rule of thumb to set up a sinking fund for heavy or burdensome expenses.
Do you want to save? Find out where your money is being wasted.
Taylor said tracking your spending is a great way to save money in the long run.
Individuals can track their spending if they:
- Print bank statements from the last two months
- Get a set of highlighters and assign a color to different expense categories
- Highlight expenses for each category
- Add up the consumption amount for each category
Tracking your expenses can also be done over 30 days using a spiral notebook, she said.
Most people are shocked to see where their money goes, and often the problem isn’t that people don’t have enough money – they’re just wasting money.
“You can’t save poverty, and I understand that, but for most of us, we spend too much on Amazon, buy outfits on SHEIN and anything we see on TikTok that’s trending, we have to go and buy it,” she said.
Taylor said she felt sick to her stomach when she realized she was spending so much on Amazon. Those little $12 purchases can add up to well over $500 if you keep doing it, she said.
Since starting her personal finance company Baddies & Budgets, Taylor has been able to help people struggling like herself, including survivors of domestic violence.
She guides them through a budgeting plan, and helps them set money aside for housing.
If you are in deep financial trouble, there is help out there, she said.
“There is hope beyond your current situation, whatever it is.”
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
