Using cash instead of cards makes you think!

Triggles

I do seem to follow the grocery budget much better when I use cash. Can't spend what you don't have, basically.

jc2703

charlies-aunt wrote: »

When I'm tempted to splurge, I work out how long I have to work to earn that amount of money (after tax etc). Realising a pair of £40 shoes takes me a whole day to 'earn' certainly makes me think hard if I really need them.

I do exactly the same - I remember someone on Oprah saying it years ago!

henbane

Hi
I've gone back to using cash, it certainly curtails spending and as I have a hopeless memory have forgotten my pin number as well so if I need money have to go to the bank therefore can't use the holes in the wall for top-ups, now that does make you think about spending.

I also found that shopping on line is much better for me, it means I then don't keep popping in the shops and buying extras along with what I really needed. If you build up a price list of all your regular items on a computer spread sheet, you can work out exactly what you can afford to spend on your shopping before you start.

Henbane.

toffee65

rsdiscos wrote: »

He also put my salter digital scales on top of the mircowave without me knwing and now they have water in the display and just show EE!!! Does anyone have any ideas how to weigh stuff without weighing stuff - ah ha I could use american sites and use cups - do they do that with marg too!?! - I wanted to bake some fairy cakes for lunch boxes as I have eggs to use up!!

Take a full bag of flour, depending on how much it weighs, normally 1kg isn't it? Divide it up equally into so you get 10 equal parts. Find a cup mug which 1/10th (100g) of it will sit full to the brim and use that container all the time to measure the flour. Do the same with a bag of sugar and find which vessel will measure to the brim 100g and use that all the time for the sugar...you then do the same with marg/butter/soft spread...maybe a 250g pack into 1/5th (50g) (egg cups or ramekins would work).

Once you find all the vessels you need to measure the divided quantities you'll be ready to go....other than that I'm not sure if there is an easier way.

foxgloves

Agree totally about using cash. I think it's the whole 'cards' thing that has got so many people (including us) into trouble in the first place. You just don't think of it as spending money and if people combine this with not bothering to look at bank statements (us again!) then it is almost imposssible to have any realistic idea of how much money is left or (us yet again!!) how big the unofficial overdrafts are actually getting. We started by withdrawing cash for our 'spending money' on a 'when it's gone, it's gone' basis and now we do the same with the monthly groceries budget. We do still sometimes go a little bit over & would like to get this under control, but it's such an improvement on how we were before. We still have a debit card and a credit card each, but the credit cards are just used for petrol (to collect points for vouchers) and are paid off every month. Nothing else goes on credit cards now unless it's an emergency.....and that's not new boots, make-up, CD & DVD emergencies, it's hole in the roof type emergencies. I was at college with a girl who budgetted every last penny and would walk across the entire city to get something 3p cheaper. She was the only student I knew who had money left at the end of each term.....we thought she was such a tightwad, but how I wish now that I'd discovered the benefits of budgeting years ago! Oh well, better late than never!

uolypool

I only use cash, don't have a bank account since taking name off joint account when seperated from partner a few years back,only a post office card account for my benefits to go into as have health issues ( reason on benefits)Anyway I worried for weeks and weeks about how I would manage as was so used to just popping in debit card pin to pay for stuff, took a while but got used to it, draw money out of post office pay for gas eleccy tv licence etc whilst there then devide money into envelopes and pop it into my sons safe only take out what I need ( he like a bank manager if dont need it he dont pass money over ) that may sound strange but it has helped us to save so when really need something like when my slowcooker broke few weeks ago didn't panic about where money was going to come from to replace it I would never go back to cards now

Frugalista

charlies-aunt wrote: »

When I'm tempted to splurge, I work out how long I have to work to earn that amount of money (after tax etc). Realising a pair of £40 shoes takes me a whole day to 'earn' certainly makes me think hard if I really need them.

LOL! I do this too. I work part-time at a kennels so I imagine how many buckets of dog sh$t I have to pick up to pay for an item :eek::eek::eek: - it certainly focuses the mind :rotfl::D

mummysaver

little_miss_moneysaver wrote: »

Maybe get one of those pre paid mastercards? Then he'd only have a certain amount to spend.

That's what I was going to suggest! I think O2 do one as well that is easy to top up by internet and they text you with the balance.

I have an electron pre-paid card that I use for booking with Ryanair to avoid their card transaction fees, I picked that up in Thomas Cook, there was a £30 min to put on it and a £3 fee.

I too am trying to use cash rather than my bank card, slightly daunting when you first start to do it though! I do miss being able to use cheques, so much easier to keep a running total than cards and receipts - though I am much better organised than I was!

btw the grocery challenge is great for inspiration and cheering you on if you want a bit of company in your efforts

custardy

must admit i tend to use cash over cards
it also has the benefit of(for me anyway) coming off my account straight away whereas some card payments can take a while.

FrankieM

I have been seriously thinking about starting to use cash for all the reasons above. We have a oneaccout , though so the idea is that any extra money makes your interest payment less each month, so its about what you leave in each month..if you get my drift.
The problem is that putting things on the cc means I don't think we really realise how much we are spending.
Perhaps I'll try it in November and see what difference it makes. If it stops overspending, then cash is probably still the best way to go.