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I finished up last week with $14, so I took out $100 to bring my cash up to $114 for the week. I actually took out $200, but $100 of it went straight to Dad to pay off the rest of my present to Mom. Here is what I spent my cash on this week.

• $33 for groceries
• $15 for discounted movie tickets through work
• $6 for Arby’s
• $4 for Starbucks
• $13 in cab rides
• $15 for beer
• $4 on unknown items

I think I can skip talking about the money that I spent on general groceries, since they are something that I will be buying every week and are a necessity of life. I spent $15 on discounted movie tickets through my employer. They are $7.50 each rather than $9-$10 each that one would regularly pay. I am actually going to be reimbursed for these at a later date since my girlfriend wanted me to get them so that she could give them as a gift, so technically this wasn’t an expense for me. I spent $6 at Arby’s the other day. They had the 4 roast beef sandwiches for $5 deal going on, so we took advantage of it. Throw in a little tax and you have $6. I spent $4 on Starbucks on Saturday on my way to taking my girlfriend to the ferry docks for her work retreat. This Saturday was our friend’s birthday, so we went over to their house to play beer pong. I bought an 18-pack of Bud Light to play with. It cost $15, but a friend chipped in $7, so it truly only cost me $8. After beer pong we took cabs to Fremont. It cost $11 to get there from the U-District. On the way back from the bars I threw in an extra $2 to help pay for the cab. I also incurred $4 of unknown expenses. I’m not really sure where that came from. Now that I have all my stuff up and running I shouldn’t have to have too many more unaccounted expenses.

I had a total “spending” of $90 for the week, but I was helped by $7 being contributed for the beer, and a repayment of $8 for our internet bill. This results in a net cash flow of $75 for the week. Since I started with $114, this leaves me with $39 at the end of the week. Tomorrow I will go ahead and take $80 out of the machine.

So far the strategy of using just cash has been working pretty well. I have had to pull out the debit card a time or two, but I have limited that fairly well. For the most part, I only use my debit in times of emergency. I have also pulled it out when I was in a rush to pay and didn’t feel like searching through my wallet for money. So without further ado, here is my cash management for the week.

Since I had $60 already in my wallet, I pulled out an additional $60 from the ATM. Here is what I spent it on:

• $22 for groceries at Fred Meyers
• $14 for Vodka at the Liquor Store
• $9 at the local ice cream shop
• $8 for wine at QFC
• $32 for dinner at a tapas bar
• $21 (not sure where it was spent)

This totals $106 for the week, leaving me with $14 left in cash at the end of the week.

Here is a little insight on why I bought what I did. $22 for groceries at Fred Meyers really goes without saying. You have to eat to live you know. I spent $14 on the vodka because we were having a game night with friends. I got Svedka, which isn’t a bad vodka at all. $9 was spent at an ice cream shop in Wallingford called Molly Moo’s. It was a bit expensive, but the ice cream was really good and I think it was organic as well. It was a nice day and there was a line of about 15 people waiting to get some. I spent $8 on wine to bring to my Grandma’s house because we were celebrating my mom’s 50th bday, and you don’t want to show up empty handed to Grandma’s house! I spent $32 to go to this tapas bar in Ballard called Ocho. It was really good food, but a very small restaurant. The bartender owned the joint and was making some crazy concoctions during the time we were there. They had a dog named Ginger that slept on the floor. Check out this link for a much better review. Finally, there is this mysterious $21 that I can’t for the life of me remember where I spent it. That is the trouble with cash. If you lose a receipt it is a pain to try to remember what you spent things on. Normally I would input it into Microsoft Money, but since my computer was all messed up I couldn’t.

This post is going to cover the rest of the things that I spent money on for the week of 5/12-5/18. In the future I plan on having one post at the end of the week that goes over all of my purchases rather than multiple posts.

If you remember from my previous post, I had $96 left to spend for the rest of the week. Here is how the rest of my spending broke down:

• $2 for coffee
• $2 for a powerade at lunch
• $10 to park downtown
• $8 at Burgerville
• $14 for food and drinks with friends
• $6 for sunscreen
• $7 to share Chinese food for lunch
• $40 at Ross for some new work clothes
• $5 to wash my car

The total spending for this comes out to $94 dollars, so I beat my goal by $2! Right now I don’t care how much I beat my goal by, I just care that I beat my goal.

Here is the story behind my purchases:

For the weekend, my girlfriend and I were traveling to Portland, OR to visit some friends for the weekend. In order to get a head start on our drive down there, we decided to drive downtown and pay for parking ($10). Since she started an hour before me I had some time to kill so I bought a coffee ($2). It was really hot outside at lunch and I forgot to bring water so I went to Rite Aid and bought a Powerade ($2. Actually $1.09, but I don’t count change.) After work we drove down to Portland but got hungry along the three hour drive since we hadn’t eaten for lunch. We decided to stop at this fast food joint called Burgerville which was in this tiny town north of Vancouver, WA ($8). It actually wasn’t too bad. The next night we went out to dinner with our friends in Portland to this brew pub. I forget the name of it but they make some pretty good food. The beer wasn’t as memorable ($14). Before we left to go home we decided to do some tax free shopping in downtown Portland. I’ve decided to start wearing ties more often to work, so we decided to pick me out a couple of shirt/tie combos. I got two shirts and two ties ($40). For lunch we stopped at your typical Asian fast food place and got a two item combo to share ($7). On the way back we stopped at the Target at Jantzen Beach. The only thing I really needed was some sunscreen ($6). When I got home, I discovered that my car had gotten pretty dirty since the last time that I had washed it, so I decided to take it to the Brown Bear self wash. I always tend to miss a spot, but I don’t really trust the machines either. It looked good, but of course it rained the next day. It’s Seattle, go figure.

I had $2 left over from the week, but I also received $58 in repayment for utilities, so I actually had $60 in my wallet. I took out $60 from the ATM on Monday. It didn’t make sense to put $60 in just to take out $120. I’m actually not even sure if I can deposit money into the ATMs with the Money Pass symbol. I will try to find that out and report my findings.

On Monday I began my trek into the all cash world. I must say that I have been doing well so far. I definitely feel a little bit more pain when I slide that cold hard cash across the counter than when I simply swiped my debit card. When you use your debit card you don’t see the money coming out, but with cash you definitely do. As you may remember, I decided to take out $120 each week. Whatever is left over I put back in.

Here is how I have fared.

• $1 for a banana for lunch.
• $16 for a haircut kit
• $7 for an extension cord

I feel good about these purchases because they were all justified.  I forgot to bring my banana to work for lunch, so I bought a replacement one. It actually cost me $.55, but I don’t consider coins to be money, so I just round up. I am going to keep all of my coin in a jar and then bring it into the counter every so often. I just need a jar. Right now it is sitting on my desk.

I think that the haircut kit was extremely justified. If you go to Hair Masters a cut will run you $15-$17 plus a few bucks for tip. Even after all that I am still not completely happy with it. It probably doesn’t help that I have a 50/50 chance of getting someone who uses English as their primary language. Maybe it is just me, but I find slight discomfort in not knowing whether or not my hairdresser actually knows what I want. Typically I just hope for the best. So the haircut kit cost the same amount that a haircut from a professional would have cost. The kit has already paid for itself! What a deal! I’m definitely not a pro, but it turned out only a half notch below what Hair Masters would have given me. Throw a little gel in there, and you won’t be able to tell the difference.

The extension cord was a necessary purchase because for some reason we do not have any outlets in the bathroom. I cut my hair in the bathroom, so I needed a place to plug the clippers in. The extension cord solved this problem nicely.

I’ve spent $24 so far so that leaves me with $96 for the weekend. The goal is to not spend it all. We shall see.

I recently decided that I need to adjust my money management strategy. As you may have read in my previous post, I was attempting to find a new institution that had more convenient access. Turns out though my bank has partnered with some other banks ton increase its’ ATM network. That works out nicely for me, because with my new strategy I will be using the ATM a little more often.

So here is my new money management plan:

• Each Monday I will take $120 out of the ATM (equates to $500/month).
• I will use only that money for my weekly expenditures.
• The left over money will be put back in on Monday, and an additional $120 will be taken out.
• All coin will be collected in a coin jar to be counted at a later date.

This new strategy should allow me to better manage my money, since I will be able to physically see what I have spent and what I have left. I have always found it a lot harder to spend with cash than with my debit or credit cards. I am going to make a few exceptions for things that I don’t spend cash on:

• Rent
• Cell Phone
• Utilities
• Gas
• Gym Dues
• Car Insurance

These items will either be paid by check or automatic transfer. This should theoretically work out for me. I will keep my current status posted each week. I plan on documenting what I spent each week and whether or not I met my goal.

I have always been an active saver, but it is always good to save a little extra. Each month I transfer $416 to my Roth IRA in order to maximize my yearly contribution. I haven’t been at my job long enough to qualify for their 401k program, but once I do I will switch my contributions to them in order to maximize my employer’s matching policy. I also transfer $50 per week into an online savings account. This allows me to save the money before I even see it. That way I am not tempted to spend it. So far it has worked well. I am just afraid that I am spending more than I have left over, which is why I have switched to this savings strategy.

I’d be interested to hear how anyone else who has tried this strategy has fared. All comments welcomed.