Well all cash November is over. I was able to take out a lump sum of money on Nov 1st and make it last the whole month. When I went to the bank to take out the lump sum, I was standing in line trying to think of a great story about why I was taking out all of this money. I guess I expected the teller to say "wow you want to take out how much?" I thought about saying I was using it to join the secret service, travel to Africa and help underprivileged children etc. When I stepped up and asked him for the money he said "how would you like that?" I told him twenties were fine and went on my way...
I think the hardest part of this experiment for me was to remember to bring cash with me when I left the house. I also really had to think about what I was going to buy, when I was going to buy it and how much I wanted to spend on one thing versus another thing. I also went on an unplanned trip to Reno for a football game and that was not budgeted into my plan. Lucky for me most of the trip was free and I hit Red 23 playing roulette so I was able to make it rain…well kind of.
A fellow blogger informed me that I should separate my money. I did this by creating a “food” envelop, a “gas” envelope, and an “other” envelop. It worked for awhile but by the end it just became the “everything” envelop.
Overall it was a good experience for me. I don’t think I have ever tracked what I spend money on in every facet of my life. I typically will spend the money and then track it afterwards. I want to believe that I spent less money this month than I typically would have if I used cards but I found out that my month to month spending really does vary. What I can say is that I spent smarter and I now have a better idea of what I spend on food, gas and extra items.
Do I recommend going cash only for the rest of my life or for other people? Probably not, truth is it is not very realistic due to the fact that some places don’t take cash anymore or “frown” upon it. I do recommend carrying some cash on you at all times. Many articles I read said that people who use credit cards to pay for everything especially the people who use them to pay for things under $10 typically spend more money overall than people who use cash.
The fact is credit is even more important today than it ever was. To build that credit you need to have a credit card and spend "fake money." I am not sure who invented credit cards but I can just see that conversation now “guys lets make people spend our money, if they don’t pay us back we will charge them an arm and a leg but at the same time if they don’t spend our money we will give them poor or no credit." Brilliant! In the end I guess it just means we soon will be saying goodbye to cash and goodbye to change. I remember when I used to see a penny on the ground I would pick it up, now some people don’t even pick up quarters let alone pennies. I have to admit it is easier to just swipe your card, I mean who needs math anymore…I am surprised they still teach it in school. haha
Moral of this story is that we now live in a Visa and MasterCard world.
