I’ve decided to go back to what was soooo successful for me in January 2009, when I made the resolution to go to a “cash only” lifestyle. It was successful because it curbed overspending; I knew what we going out instead of blinding swiping my bank card and having some obscure figure in my head for how much funds is in the account.
So this Monday, I started a cash-only spending plan. I took out $200, which was a bit less than what I allotted for myself for 2 weeks. Not much, I know, but I have a lot more I am budgeting for now that we have a new house! New house, new expenses….Good Lord, the amount of money we’re having to spend on things you don’t realize you even need! Like a leaf blower! LOL. Anyhow, I took out $200, and today is (wee-hours) of Friday morning.
I have $2.00 in change in my purse.
I have spent it all!
$30 to renew my license that I hadn’t accounted for……$32 to buy Ohene a couple birthday presents, along with a couple presents for their daycare Christmas party “Secret Santa” exchange….$35 to get some damn keys made for the new house (long story………), etc.
Paying cash makes you aware of every dime that goes out, and helps you keep tabs on what you’ve got. And I’ve actually done pretty good! For example, I stopped at Trader Joe’s tonight to “get some food,” per Kwasi’s request, since he had been at the new house all day and there’s literally no food there (the contractor was there doing some work). I only have $13 in cash. Now, if I was using my bank card, I easily would have walked out of there spending about $30 or more. But because I only have $13, I had to pick and choose what immediately things we needed. And wouldn’t you know the bill came to $12.96?? I couldn’t have done it better! 🙂
On a down note, I did decide to stop at McDonald’s for fries. Kwasi had asked me to stop at Chipotle to get burritos, but after spending my last $13, I just didn’t have it to stop there. So I figured I could get some cheap (unhealthy!) fries. I would have had enough cash for that (found a couple dollars in my car!!!), but Kwabena begged for me a toy, and that set me over the amount.
Had to use my bank card 🙁
Anyhow, overall, I’m doing great, and if I can strategically stretch out the last bit of money that I will have in my account, using only cash, then I will be soooooo pumped! And I’ll be well on my way to setting up a good budget, as well as making sure we have enough money to pay for our new house. LOL 🙂
Leave a Reply