A few weeks ago with good intentions, I decided to begin a “Cash Only” Experiment for Budgeting. Pretty much everyone I’ve talked to thought it was a great idea, but so far I’ve only run into one other person actually doing it. My partner, I think, considers me a bit insane, particularly when I make her go inside the gas station to pay while I pump. I do this myself, of course, when I’m in the car alone, and I’d forgotten what a pain it is (or I’ve just gotten utterly spoiled by the convenience of pay at the pump, probably the latter.) Thankfully she agrees that it’s a good idea in theory.
Now to see how well it works. We started this on.. April 6th. Basically that means that I have another two weeks left on this current budget until it switches over on May 6th. Things are… going. I definitely think we’ll be able to make it, although there have been some minor sidetracks (clothes shopping on Sunday – with sales and an extra twenty percent off coupon) took care of a nice size chunk of this week’s allowance. It was necessary shopping though, trousers for the kiddo, some work shirts for both of us. Yeah there was a Spiderman shirt thrown in, but who doesn’t need one of those?
The good news is that having a fixed idea of budget that is definite and held in your hands goes a long way towards controlling impulse spending. The debit card, convenience aside, makes it far too easy to just swipe and go. Let’s not get started even on Credit Cards.
Pretty much the plan is simple. The Budgeted money is there. If we go over it comes out of the next scheduled amount (and this is only for essentials like gas anything else can wait until funds are available again. There’s always peanut butter and jelly). If anyone is wondering if I use the envelope method I hate to disappoint you. Any money not on my person resides in a very clever hiding place, from this point on called the VCH.
If we can’t pay cash for it and it’s not in our budget we don’t get it. Period. Yes this is leading to all sorts of inventive spending and coupon use (that 1/2 off second entree at our favorite Mexican place the other night was just as good as the full price one and that double coupon week at Kmart *yes Kmart* netted me a package of pull-ups, two bottles of body lotion, carpet cleaner, and toothpaste for under nine bucks). But this is a GOOD thing. We’ve started going to our local library every week to take out books and movies and play on the swings. I got free tickets to see Bob The Builder by taking an online survey from our local Performing Arts Center. We’ve started cooking at home a heck of a lot more and I’ve lost weight in the process. We’ve started getting back to times when things were just a little bit simpler, even if they’re a bit more work and a bit less convenient, and part of me is realizing it’s about time!
About the only exceptions I’m making is for little things. I will likely still buy Itunes with my credit card, but pay it off out of the fund every month. (Paying 99 cents for a song you like as opposed to a whole album is still saving money). But other than that…. our checking account is pretty much just for bills now (and that’s all done online or through automatic bill pay).
So far the first two weeks we went 25 dollars over budget on gas and some groceries. It came out of this next fortnight’s amount. As of right now I have just over a quarter of my total budget left to get me through till the sixth with a mostly full refrigerator and no pressing social plans.
April 21, 2009 at 6:00 pm
The worst part about gas stations is kids in the car. A few years ago when mine were younger, I really panicked about having to go in to pay. Now, I know which stations I can get to pay quickly, see my car while paying, and can just leave the car locked while I toss the money at them (one in particular knows me and is always ready when he sees me coming!).
The other catch with gas stations is finding the few that’ll let you pump first, pay after. I love our smaller family owned station near our house, and we almost always go there. We can pump first then pay (he’ll turn the pump on when he sees us) and his prices are reasonable. It’s worth establishing that relationship to avoid the two trips into the station — one to pay, and one for change!
April 21, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I’m going to be starting my cash-only lifestyle in May. I’ll be watching here with avid interest! I’m also on a very tight budget, so I’m paying more attention to sales and coupons and discounts and comparison shopping, etc…
A strict budget is scary business, but I’m ready to learn.
April 21, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Hey, you. You know I’m totally available for hands on hand-holding through it. Wanna know the funniest thing? I’ve found I’m actually happier and managing to spend more money on fun things for the family because we’re taking care where we spend our money and what constitutes fun. We haven’t had to count things out, just had to count them when we were budgeting. Everything gets averaged and considered and planned to get maximum value out of expenditure.
April 21, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Good for you! I’ve been thinking about it for a while and sort of half heartedly doing it, but there were always slip ups. Now I’ve just decided to go hard core. I’ll definitely be sharing tips for saving, etc I come up with on here too as sort of a little extra. Definitely knowing all the prices and who is cheapest is important. I actually found a site called groceryguide.com that tells you all the sale prices at various stores in your area and compares them, the only disadvantage is that it doesn’t have one of the stores I usually shop at. Before I go to the store though i go through our weekly grocery circular on line, finding what is on sale and then pair it with any coupons i have. It’s a bit fun actually, to see how much you can save.
April 21, 2009 at 11:46 pm
You should do a post about groceryguide, just to have it in a main post somewhere — that sounds like an excellent resource and is one I hadn’t heard of!
April 22, 2009 at 12:01 am
I will definitely do that sometime. Beleive me, I can wax on for hours about budgeting, saving money, coupon clipping and finding the best deal. Saving money makes me ridiculously happy.
April 25, 2009 at 1:04 pm
The coupons and so forth are what I totally need to learn more about. I hear from girlfriends about finding them online, but my Google-fu sadly sucks at that. Tips appreciated, and I’ll check out the website.
April 26, 2009 at 11:58 am
I can definitely provide some tips. I go through spurts where I use alot of coupons and then some when I use none at all and it’s almost always tied with my income at the time. I was thinking I might actually do a post about that and my mercenary grocery shopping methods. I have poor luck finding coupons online, you always have to sign up for something and then it’s usually not worth it. More reliable is the sunday paper, I just got a ton of coupons out of ours (and it’s worth the dollar to buy the paper) they are for brand names but if you pair them with sale prices I’ve gotten some great deals. Today’s coupons were largely household cleaning products and pet foods, but I got one on hot dogs, ice cream bars, and other things I use. I also scour those little flyers you get in the mail with coupons in them for half off deals for eating out, almost always it’s for restaurants I like. We don’t go out often anymore but you might as well save money when you do!
April 21, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Re: iTunes
Here’s a way to do iTunes that’s still cash only: Gift Cards!
Just buy yourself one of the $15 or $20 or whatever gift cards (they sell them EVERYWHERE) and then you add the money to your iTunes account, and it deducts from that. Greatest thing EVER. (I do it even though I’m not on a cash only budget, because I hate the charges of $1, $2 on my debit card.)
Another amazing thing? Some CoinStar machines let you turn spare change iTunes as well, with no counting fee. That’s what I do with all of my change, and it’s wonderful. It’s like getting music for nothing!
April 21, 2009 at 11:44 pm
CoinStar does iTunes? I didn’t know that… why have you never told me this before? *grins*
I have turned in change to get Amazon gift cards (I have one hanging on the fridge from the last emptying of he coin jar, it is earmarked to be a portion of a large purchase coming up).
I was actually thinking about the iTunes gift cards today. Got an ad from BJs and they sell (very slightly) discounted iTunes gift cards — $60 for $57 (I said it was slight!). I was thinking sometime I ought to pick up a pack to get that few dollars savings.
April 21, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Not all CoinStar machines does it, but I know ours does. Usually once the quarter slot on my coin sorter gets filled up, that’s when I’ll take them in to get me some music money. I’m seriously in love with it. The only annoying thing is that the machine is in the grocery store I never go in. (I do the Whole Foods shopping. Rikibeth does the Shaw’s shopping.)
April 21, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I think I can only do comments to three deep, because the reply link disappears then.
I think there’s a place online to find out where all CoinStar machines are in the area. I used it to find the one that does Amazon (the one in my usual store doesn’t, so I have to go to the pricier store, but it’s not far out of my way). I’ll have to look for one doing Amazon.
April 22, 2009 at 12:03 am
That is an excellent idea! I’m embarrassed I never thought of that myself. I have received and given them as gifts before but never would have thought of doing it that way. Great idea.
And now you have me thinking about CoinStar. They have one in Publix and I’ve always been intimidated to use it which is silly I suppose. Mostly I use my change to do exact change from purchases, however, like most people I have the immense “container o’ pennies” in my house which could be definitely used in some better way.
Thanks for the suggestion!