I have had a lot of people tell me that cash is intimidating ... That's the point! When you have cash you see it leaving your possession. Many people have also asked how we NEVER swipe cards, how I have switched our expenses over to cash and how I got Travis on board with all cash - This blog is for yall!!
If you read last week’s blog on how we budget, you know that we only keep our bill money in the account, so we can’t just swipe our cards once we pull out our expenses (gas, personal, groceries, etc.) and then we transfer whatever is left or our designated amount of savings to our savings account.
Before we were budgeting hard core, we noticed we just swiped without "realizing" the amount of money that was coming out of our account and how it added up so quickly. Whether it was food, groceries, gas, etc. Our biggest offender was gas station stops for a soda or snack.
When we started budgeting I was on board with all cash, while travis wasn't. It was a lot harder to say ok, you have $20 in spending money, $40 in gas and $30 for dip for the next two weeks (that is also in our main/bill bank account) you can use your card but you have to also keep up with the amount your swiping for and what you have left. As I’m sure you can imagine, it was hard to keep up with and it was $5 here and $10 there that went over the designated budget he had to swipe. So! We opened up a separate checking account for him and I would transfer the money he had for dip, personal money and gas (at the time we were not traveling as much for work, etc. so we budgeted per person for gas).
After time, he started seeing my cash, getting curious. So one day I just took the cash out and said this is what ya got. This is all. Then he could only spend what he sees in his envelopes. And he grew to love having cash vs. card because he physically saw the money going away.
Once he switched over to cash, he didn't want to go back! Every two weeks I grab our envelopes and fill them up with the set amount and I tell him "ok trav, your envelopes are full!" and then on occasion he will sit with me while I do it because I do it after dinner and I'll let him put his money in his envelopes. It's a satisfaction and accomplishing feeling! He started to physically see where his money was going and realized how much was being spent.
As easy as that sounds, if you are “addicted” per say, to swiping your card and stopping for snacks, foods, etc. when you want, then this is going to be pretty difficult for you. You will need a lot of discipline to say no to things. But when you’re saying no to certain things, remember your goal!
Ok! Now I have a couple challenges for you!
1. Throughout the next week, keep your receipts and tally up any items you swipe your card for. At the end of the week, total up the receipts and see exactly what you’re spending.
2. Eliminate the wants and figure out how much money you NEED for your expenses (gas, groceries, etc.).
3. If you aren’t on the cash ban-wagon, I also challenge you to open up a separate account for your expenses.
