Cash not Card

camNolliesMUMMY

I need to do this I'm overdrawn by £250, I have enough in but its been the cost if moving n preparing for baby.
I keep a tight budget on food its for passing things and thinking oh il buy that.
I have to stop this now because I'm frugal about everything else.

helvelyn

I am the complete opposite and rarely spend cash. This is because I regularly swap credit cards, and I only ever have cards that offer me cashback or vouchers or nectar points.

I am very careful though when I use my credit card. The minute I get home I open up my spreadsheet and transfer the amount spent using the card from my housekeeping column to the credit card column. This way I always have the money to pay the credit card bill in full every month.

Also when the I get the credit card cashback or nectar points or vouchers I sell them to the housekeeping and use the money I pay myself to reduce the mortgage. Last year I paid off the equivelent of 2 full months mortgage payments by doing this.

Works very well for me but you DO have to be disciplined to make it work.

hakeber

it makes it much more "real" to pay for things in cash. It stops money in your pocket being " a couple of quid" or "only a pound" all cash becomes equal and it makes it much easier to not impulse buy as you have to keep getting it out of the machine and watching your balance go down.
bek

Pink.

Hi katie,

We have an existing thread discussing the merits of using cash rather than plastic so i've added your thread to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

ScarletRaven

We used to always do shopping for groceries etc on our bills account card andit's like it never mattered what the amount came to at the till as we just popped it onnto the card However we learnt the hard way when the account went overdrawn (only by about £25, but still enough to get a charge) and the culprits? A small shop at Farmnfoods following our weekly shop at Morrisons. We just didn't realise how much we were spending but it clearly was more than what we 'budget' for each month.

Now, I take £200 out that account and put it in a tin - this is the money we use for grocery shopping each week, allowing £50 a week. That covers our main weekly shop plus extra little bits like bread and milk we may need through the week. It really makes us think about what we're putting in the trolley as we know that we really only have that £200 to use all month. It's definitely helped changing to cash spending, and I'll not be going back to using the card for anything other than bills!

mon1o

We've just started doing this. I'm embarking on a dmp and quite simply if I go out with my card because I can't physically see what I'm spending I throw anything in the trolley. I have today drawn out all cash (not including what's needed for dd's) and separated into 3 envelopes for the month; petrol, shopping and spending. And I intend to use nothing but cash from today onwards. Anything left will go into next months envelopes (if it's a 5weeker) or into my esavings account. It's my first month so we'll see how we go but I'm actually really excited about figuring out how to be frugal and live on a budget.

DundeeDoll

As many have said above, do what suits, we're all different. March will be my 3rd month, and we will try the £100 cash per week as i'm not disciplined enough to write everything down. That leaves £40 per week for CC purchases. Anything left will go into xmas fund

valk_scot

I much prefer to use cash. At the start of the week I'll take out my housekeeping money and then lay aside the expenses I know I'll have, like school dinner money, sports subs, special purchase like small gift or magazine or lunch out. It makes me think about what I have in my purse when I'm writing my meal plans and shopping list, as in I'll change to a cheaper alternative if I'm going to be short. (I know some folk like to keep their grocery money completely seperate from other spends but for me it's more flexible if it's one lump sum.)


If I've got money left over or I've saved a lot from having a freezer week then I tuck it in a seperate purse in my bag, for extras. Sometimes this might be for taking advantage of a really good buy that I want to stock up with, or it might be for a treat.

The other thing cash is useful for is when the kids come and ask me for money...I'll show them how much I've got left, say how much I'll need of it for x, y and z and then we'll negotiate. I don't mind the odd pound coin over and above pocket money now and again but they know I simply can't hand over £20 when that's all the cash I have left for the week! It's good for them to know there's a stop sign in the budget.

System

I never have any cash on me. I ought to really for emergencies as my nearest cashpoint is a couple of miles away.