Cash Only Status
I posted a while back that I was attempting to transition to spending cash only. I must admit that it was quite difficult at first. I would find many reasons to cheat the system. For example: if I were to be at a restaurant and the bill was $28.00 and all I had was two $20s. I wouldn’t want the waiter to make me change, so I would just put down the card instead. That doesn’t really help you if you are trying to save money by spending cash only.
Over the past month I have put a lot of effort towards spending just cash only. My strategy is to take out $120/week out of the ATM. Anything that I have left over I put into a little box for something down the road. I haven’t quite decided what it is that I am saving for, but at least I feel good about it. Over the past month or so I have managed to save an additional $190 by using this strategy. For me personally, I find it harder to spend cash, so I am more likely to conserve it.
I think that it is helpful to stash the leftovers somewhere so that you can physically see how your pile is progressing. I think that the amount is more meaningful if you see a pile of money stacked up, rather than just some number on your online banking. I am curious if anyone else uses a similar technique to this.
One other strategy that I was pondering was that once I hit $120 in my secret stash, I would take a break from the ATM for the week. I think that I am going to stick with my current strategy for now. I think that I will probably use this stash for buying Christmas presents sooner rather than later.
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