If you take control of your finances in other ways, this system just isn't necessary. Set up automatic bill pay, set up recurring deposits into savings and investment accounts, use credit cards with the best rewards to pay for things (set to be fully paid off automatically every month), and then spend within your means so you don't live paycheck to paycheck. I suppose that last one is the thing that envelope budgeting/mental accounting is attempting to solve, but the problem is that it isn't actually solving the root cause. Spending smarter or at least not spending frivolously can free you from managing 25 different spending categories every day/week/month.
Setting up automatic bill pay and recurring deposits reduces the time needed to manage your money (probably), but it doesn't really help with following a budget.
Probably a lot of us on HN can get by without a budget, because we are generally highly paid, so just keeping spending within reason is all it takes.
If you actually need to budget, then it would be nice to have tools to remind you that you've spent all your X money for the month/year, so either no more of that, or you need to adjust the budget.
That's fair, and I hope I don't come across as crass or overly privileged, but the problem is still _what_ you are spending the money on. I could make $250k/year, budget to spend every penny, and still live paycheck-to-paycheck. That is a recipe for disaster for when a real emergency arises. Having an emergency fund is the #1 goal for personal finance, and reduces the severity of a lot of other issues like slightly overspending in a category one month.
