Envelopes / three piles

Three piles before you spend

An envelope is a rule on the table. Three piles: must, want, later. Coins (or ticks on paper) go into piles before a machine comes. Who splits only in a shop splits by mood.

It is not a bank. It is not an investment. It is an order, so a want does not eat a notebook copy.

Filip gets 90 Kč. All into the pocket. At the machine 40, at a game 50, 10 for a copy is missing. Eliška splits 90: 20 must (a copy), 40 want (juices), 30 later (a goal for a game). The machine may reach only into “want”. The copy lives.

Filip laughs at envelopes. On Tuesday he goes to borrow ten. Eliška has ten in “must”. The laugh was expensive.

Order before mood

Must = things that hold the school day and promises (a copy, a snack you were meant to pay, a debt you promised to return). Want = a mood now. Later = a goal you go towards for more days. A move from later to want is a decision, not “by accident”.

A parent pays the rent. Do not put electricity into “must”. Put your small musts there. Otherwise guilt again.

When the want pile runs out, stop. Do not reach into must. Do not reach into later without a sentence out loud: “I am taking from the goal.” The sentence hurts just enough so you notice.

Envelopes are not a punishment. They are a visible decision. A table can do three columns. Paper too. The mark is that you reach into the right pile, not that you have a formula.

Eliška wants to shorten it to “it will be fine somehow”. Filip asks what the lesson Envelopes / three piles is for, when a table can do a sum. A sum does not count respect, a PIN, a trap or an envelope. The core is: First three piles, then the machine. A want reaches only into “want”.

Adults pay the rent. The card, the account and the PIN belong to a parent. A child’s email does not belong here. Pocket-money numbers do not belong on the network. If you break these rules in the lesson “Envelopes / three piles”, you know a word, not the course.

90 Kč. Must 20. Want 40. Later 30. Spending juice 25 from want. 15 stays in want. Filip would take 25 from later “just once”. A goal of 200 Kč would move 25 away and a lie with it.

Eliška moves 10 from want to later, because a week without juice will carry. That is a plan. It is not riches.

Practice numbers, not a bank statement. Eliška has 80 Kč in the want envelope. Filip pushes a step this lesson can name. When Eliška uses the core, either it waits for a parent, or it fits the envelope. If not, anger and a hole are left — proof of pressure, not that the lesson is pointless.

Why this right now

You are in the course Money with Martin, level Cashier. You can write numbers in a notebook or a table, but the topic is money and decisions, not Excel formulas. The account, the card and the PIN belong to a parent. A child’s email does not belong here. Do not put pocket-money numbers on the network.

This is not the Sheets with Martin course. A table may help, but the mark of success is a decision, not SUM.

You will know this lesson by one sentence: First three piles, then the machine. A want reaches only into “want”. When you can say it to a parent or a teacher, you have the core. The rest is practice, not magic.

A goal of 200 Kč needs a later pile. A class trip too. Without envelopes every spend is from one pocket and the pocket always loses to a mood.

If you skip this, the next lesson in level Cashier will stand on fog. Three circles added together. Rent is not in them. It is not a test for marks. It is a safety net, so “Envelopes / three piles” is not only a heading.

Four things you will build from the course

The course has four small projects. You do not have to do them all at once. Today you add only what this lesson can do.

Workshop: three bowls on paper

Draw three circles. Split a practice 90 Kč or your number, if you may. No photo.

1. Label the circles: must / want / later. Into must put one school thing of this week.

2. Split the number. The sum of three piles = the start. If it does not match, count again, do not invent.

3. A rule on paper: “From later only with a sentence out loud.”

4. Show a parent the circles, not an amount on the network. Ask whether something does not belong in must (rent).

You count when the sum matches and rent is not in must. If everything is in want, you did not make envelopes — you made one pocket three times.

Pocket money: Pocket money 14 days: split every income at once, not when it runs out. Do not write someone else’s amount, a PIN, an IBAN or “how much a classmate gets” next to it. A rule and a practice number are enough — or an honest zero.

Practice: which pile?

Match them. Split a mix of mood and must.

1. A notebook copy 10 Kč. Where? Why not into want?

2. A skin 79 Kč. Where? What sentence, when you reach into later?

3. Why does rent not belong in a child’s “must”?

4. Filip takes from later quietly. What lie happened to the pile?

Now you 💪

Go through three checks. By each one, tick in your head: do I see it, or not?

1. I can name three piles.
2. A want does not reach into must.
3. A move from later has a sentence out loud.

If something is missing, go back to the steps above. It is not a test for marks. It is a safety net, so you go on with certainty, not with a mess.

What to take from this lesson

• Envelopes are an order, not a bank.
• Must / want / later before the machine.
• You may reach into a goal — but out loud.
• Rent does not belong in a child’s envelopes.
• 名前s in the examples (Eliška, Filip) are made up. Do not put your number, email or photo here.
• Next lesson: When you can do this, go to the next lesson in the same level.

© 2026 Ing. Martin Polak / AlgoRhino · コンテンツ利用規約