Questions for those who take cash out each week

Saver-upper

Hi,all
I have been reading threads on MSE for the last 3 years,and learnt so much,as well as made lovely online friends.:j

Doing some reading lately,and I have noticed the amount of people who take cash out of the bank each week to live off.
I never done this,and have been wondering if it could save me some money.For information,I am a mum of 4 school-age children,living with partner,who I share bills with

I was wondering:
-what do you spend the cash on,and what do you still use a card for?For example,I would need to leave money in the bank for direct debits to come out,so don't need cash for that.Also,my children's school require that things like school lunches,school trips,breakfast club,etc,are paid for online.So,is the cash for things like grocery shopping,petrol,days out,birthday/Christmas presents,nights out,coffeee with friends,treats for the kids,etc

-if you have money left over that week,do you then save that and get out a new cash withdrawal,or do you put it aside for when there is 5 Mondays in a month (assuming Monday is the day you get money out)

-any other thoughts you have on this method.

Any advice would be great,thank you.(Thought I had another question,but I can't remember it :rotfl:).

BettyBones

Hi SU, I write a budget every pay day and once everything's been accounted for (rent, bills, direct debits, debts, savings etc) I generally have just £120 left for myself. So I draw £30 cash out of the bank every Saturday morning and this is my spending money for the week. As I've committed to having no social life until these pesky debts are cleared that's generally all I have to amuse myself with each week and it gets spent on all manner of weird and wonderful things. Like nursing a coffee in Starbucks for 3 hours on a Saturday whilst reading a book, going to the cinema on Whacky Wednesdays when it's only £3 or buying books, CD's or jigsaw puzzles from the charity shop at £1-2 a pop, Yesterday, I bought a word search book and a few ingredients to make some flapjack.
Any £2 coins I get given in change go into my £2 Christmas savings pot (which is currently sitting at £128) and anything left over at the end of the week before I draw another £30 out goes into my spare change pot (I've bought most of the smaller Christmas presents I need to get already with this leftover cash and it's paid for random things I've needed/wanted... like a pair of bathroom scales, a carpet sweeper and a glass tea cup).
The only things I use the Credit Card for these days is petrol and food shopping. And that's only to get the extra Clubcard points. I pay for the petrol and food shop on my Tesc0 Credit Card and then as soon as I get home I go online and move the money from my bank account to my card.
If there happens to be any money left over in my bank account at the end of the month, which more often than not there isn't, then this gets moved into my emergency fund

Kwaker_Knacker

Hi S-U.

I'm similar to BettyBones, with a couple of small differences. I get the bus fare money for my son for the month, window cleaner payment, daughter's dancing club money, etc (all cash payments), plus mine and the wife's monthly "pocket money" the same day as my monthly pay goes in the bank (I just get the 1 payment out per month for all of these, not weekly, just saves me trips to the cashpoint really ). The cash payments get put away and used when due, I get my pocket money to use as I see fit, same for the wife. The exception for this is grocery money. This gets drawn once a week by my wife on her way to the supermarket, and we never pay for these on a card.

The main difference is my wife. She doesn't work to the same system as I do (not for the want of me constantly telling her all money is spoken for). She still goes and draws money out for different things, when in reality, there's no spare cash in the account. She's better than she was, but I do all the money stuff, and have to constantly check to make sure she's not taken out and not told me...

Providing you don't have a partner the same as my wife, what you're proposing, and BettyBones' system should work fine for you.

tallyhoh

OH just been made redundant so we have cut back. I used to put everything on credit card as it was a cash back one BUT now discovered I wasn't really keeping a check on spending.
I am now withdrawing £35 cash every Monday for everything & managing much better. If I don't have something I just go without or substitute it till the following week, not long to wait.

Sharon87

I tried the taking out cash and only living on that, but it didn't work for me, at least the weekly thing anyway, as some weeks I have no social life or don't buy much food, but other weeks I spend more. I also finding with cash I have no idea where the money goes once it's spent, my purse gets too full of receipts and I need to be disciplined in logging every receipt into YNAB.

I much prefer card transactions and using online/mobile banking to keep a track of my money. This way I can see what I've spent and can log all my spends once a week and work out what I've got left the rest of the month.

What works for one person doesn't work for another. If you decide to withdraw cash each week, make sure you know what its for - if it's just 'entertainment' money then it shouldn't be too difficult, but if it's for multiple categories like groceries, entertainment, window cleaner.etc then you need to really be on top of how much you've spent, it's easy to accidentally mix up what cash is for what, especially if you take it to the pub!

Saver-upper

Aww,thank you everyone for taking the time to reply.

Reading your responses,I am not sure I would gain anything by completely changing to a "cash-only" system.

When I say "paying by card",I mean a debit card (have never owned a credit card).

My original idea was to withdraw,say £200/week,and that would include shopping such as groceries,petrol,stopping at the corner store every Friday after school for sweets,coffeee with friends,etc.But part of my thinking is "I still need to fill the car with petrol,I still need groceries etc",so using cash will not help me save money on these,I don't think.

Reading Betty Bones and Kwaker Knacker,gives me the idea to continue paying for "big stuff" like groceries/petrol,on card,but then allow only,say,£40 for other things that crop up: Friday corner store,coffee with friends,cake sales at school,travelling book fair at school,school disco,birthday parties...maybe even "run out of milk/bread"

Like Sharon87,I like to be able to see where my money has gone.For a long time I have written down what I spend every day.I think using the debit card helps me see where I spend.

As tallyhoh says,when the money is gone,it is not a long wait til next week.

So I think I will start the system tomorrow-have £40-50 cash only in my purse,use it as mentioned above,and see how it goes.Might start at £50,then reduce to £40 later.

Thank you all for the ideas-they have been very helpful.

I am about to clear out my purse of everything except £50 (put the rest in my sealed tin (4 days til opening day :j).

katy_ann

Me and my OH have a "bills and food shopping" account, a DD goes from each of our current accounts each month into this account, all bills are on DD's from this account and the rest is used for food shopping, we don't withdraw cash from this account. Once we have put money in our savings accounts and personal bills like phone bills etc have been paid my OH has whatever is left in his current account to spend on himself, he pays by card for everything, however I withdraw cash, usually £30 a week on a Saturday that I have to play with for the week, I know if I need more I can withdraw another £10 but that the following week I will need to be more careful as I will only have £20 for example. Withdrawing cash makes me think about my money much more as I can physically see it going whereas when I spend on card I don't get that same feeling!

EssexHebridean

I think the key thing that (I think Sharon87) has been said is that there is not a "one size fits all" solution for this - what works for one person will be completely pointless for another.

I think regardless of the method, a budget is key - so all the things you mention as not being able to be paid by cash are accounted for there. The way we work things is that our "joint" money stays in the joint account - our own spending money is sent across to our own accounts by a regular monthly transfer. From the joint account obviously all the DD's go out, but also transfers to our savings, and to "offshoot" accounts for things like car costs, holiday, household expenses, general "fun" stuff like days out etc. Food spending is covered by a £150 a month transfer to our Clubcard Plus account - this lets us withdraw cash from cashpoints if we want to spend elsewhere than Tesco, but all spends in store attract extra CC points, and the account also pays interest.

On a personal level I withdraw cash from the machine at most once a week - but this is generally for personal spends only, and I tend to use the Cashback credit card for larger spends , but keep a close track on when that gets used and for what. The CC is from the same provider as our bank accounts so I can easily check the transactions when I log in to online banking - that works pretty well for me. I also try to ensure that I think about whether I *need* to take money out - if the previous week has been quiet I may not bother. I also have "offshoot" accounts from my personal account to save/budget for things, and a "main" savings account from there, too.

lambda

I personally think that it doesn't really matter whether or not you are using cards or cash to pay for things, the main thing is whether or not you budget and stick to it. If you do, then it shouldn't really matter.

Having said that, personally, I find that taking out cash like that never worked for me - much harder to track it. I use my debit card for almost everything. I ALWAYS ask for a receipt whenever I buy anything, and when I get home or even straight away I log the expense into YNAB. But, I find using debit card a bit easy to keep track of spending. Cash just seems to flitter away.

Ilona

I like to keep a float in my purse for small to medium spends because I shop in lots of different shops. Can't be bothered to get a card out every time.

My petrol and big food shop, and the rare more expensive purchase go on the credit card, which is cleared every month. There might be three weeks or more between filling the car up if I haven't used it much. I might only do a big shop once every three weeks, and top up with smaller cash shops in between.

I have a debit card but only use it for withdrawing cash from the hole in the wall, I only use the machine inside the bank, when I happen to be in town. I don't trust other machines. I take enough out to last me 2 or 3 weeks.

When shopping I use a combination of credit card and cash, depending on how much I have in my purse, and how costly the purchase is.

I never withdraw a set amount of cash, it varies, usually £100, sometimes £200, depending on whether I need it for something, and when I might next be in town to go to the bank. Just because the cash is in my purse doesn't mean I go and splash it on any old rubbish. I am disciplined enough to only buy what I need, as opposed to what I want.

Ilona

EssexHebridean

Ilona wrote: »

I like to keep a float in my purse for small to medium spends because I shop in lots of different shops. Can't be bothered to get a card out every time.

My petrol and big food shop, and the rare more expensive purchase go on the credit card, which is cleared every month. There might be three weeks or more between filling the car up if I haven't used it much. I might only do a big shop once every three weeks, and top up with smaller cash shops in between.

I have a debit card but only use it for withdrawing cash from the hole in the wall, I only use the machine inside the bank, when I happen to be in town. I don't trust other machines. I take enough out to last me 2 or 3 weeks.

When shopping I use a combination of credit card and cash, depending on how much I have in my purse, and how costly the purchase is.

I never withdraw a set amount of cash, it varies, usually £100, sometimes £200, depending on whether I need it for something, and when I might next be in town to go to the bank. Just because the cash is in my purse doesn't mean I go and splash it on any old rubbish. I am disciplined enough to only buy what I need, as opposed to what I want.

Ilona

That bit comes with practise...