What helps you spend less? Cards or Cash?

moz86

I can't emphasise enough how important and useful it is for me to get CASH out to pay for things.

a) I can plan my finances at the start of the month. I know how much everything will cost (budgets) and I know how much I'm getting paid. I get £100 out on payday, and this has to last me till a week from that day. Any extra I put into a tin for treats.

b) it makes you much more aware of what you spend when you watch it go and you can count what you have left. It's also an ongoing incentive to stick to that amount. To get any more out feels like defeat and you become really aware of it.

Best of luck to you! It certainly helped me switching to cash.
Plus the treats I get at the end of the month are really worth working towards. Sometimes I have £100 left in the tin and put it towards the debt!

rb6ac

For me, I'd prefer to have my card on me than cash. It means, in the mornings, I can go and buy my lunch from Tesco, pay with my card and get it over with. There are no cash machines around where I work, so if I haven't got the cash on me, I can't buy a muffin or something similar that I don't need from the work canteen/snack van.

I'm quite disciplined anyway and try to write down everything I spend in a notepad as I go along - then at the end of the week I'll count it up and write it in my spending diary.

But I find, with cash, I'm more willing to spend it on a sneaky chocolate bar - whereas I'd never go into a garage and spend 50p on my card - I'd be embarassed, as well as the £5-limit in certain places!

Works the other way for my OH, he works better with a certain amount of cash in his wallet.

Ok, I'll stop rambling now!

Lazy_Runner

I used to spend loads of money in the shop at work, when I bought lunches from the canteen.:o
But that was before my LBM. And it may have had something to do with I have already spent some money so I didn't think about spending some more.

Now I take sandwiches to work as many days as I can. When I buy something, it is on the credit card. And also now that I don't spend at lunch, for some reason means I am less likely to spend during the rest of the day.
But I do have a number of checks and balances in place.
1) Anything I buy on the card, an equivalent amount gets transferred from my current account to my savings account for when the bill comes.
2) I get receipts for everything, including low value purchases.
3) I enter ALL my spending on some software that allows me to keep track of my balances. This software also shows me my forecast balance for the rest of the month.

Sorry if that was a bit garbled, but all I can say is that since I started taking sandwiches, I have a lot more money in the bank. This is because I am not spending at lunchtime, and I am not spending at other times either.

Kaz2904

I have slipped really badly and it's because I had stopped nuying everything with cash and was using a credit card for the cash back.
I am trying one last thing before I freeze the cc and that is to have my budget written down and every time any money is spent from my budgets I recalculate the leftovers so I can just open my purse and see that I have £33.68 left for 14 weeks worth of food!

In_Search_Of_Me

This is interesting & such a simple thing I hadnt thought of! I rarely pay cash but definately think about it more when I do!! Umm food for thought! Maybe I should just pay cash for everything...

molerat

ciarasdreams wrote: »

You sound just so like her that I have to ask are you actually my sister?

I don't think so, i've got the wrong bits for a start :eek:

Larumbelle

I'm putting in a vote for cash because when I first started taking control this was what helped me most.

However, I've now got myself so well trained that I resent shelling out for pretty much anything unless I really really REALLY need it and I know I can't get it cheaper. It doesn't matter what I'm handing over, I hate having to!

duchy

I love my pre-paid creditcard. It keeps me on the straight and narrow(ish)

Rain_is_Insane

I'd rather use my card. Like one of the other posters mentioned...if my shopping came to £31 I would have to draw £40 out and the other £9 ends up on a coffee here, a packets of sweets for the DS there, etc. I manage to convince myself that I have budgeted £40 for the shoping so a bottle of wine can't hurt can it? As long as i write down what i spend and keep a track of it I can save quite a lot paying by card (except this month cause I've just changed jobs and i'm skint till i get paid)

HannaB

I completely agree with Blue Haddock:

"i think it's swings and roundabouts really. If i've got £10 cash in my pocket and i buy something thats £6.99 i just seem to lose the change from the tenner - a quick can of coke and packet of crisps and the change has dissapeared without a second thought."

We live about 100 yards from our corner shop. If I had spare change lying around, I would think "I just fancy a coke/choccy bar/this weeks copy of Now...". Not only would the money be gone before I knew it, but I'd gain a stone with all the extra treats.

HB