“Cash Only Challenge” – September…
Credit Cuzzin Nancy from Hawaii with this idea.
She and I are only spending CASH in the month of September when we are transacting business in the "real world".
The only time we will use "plastic" is at the ATM to withdraw cash.
That includes using cash to pay for gas...yup that means walking in and paying ahead of time...an inconvenience for sure.
Cash for groceries...cash for fast food...cash for everything.
Every night we will email each other with a list of our daily cash expenditures. This helps us stick with it and will also provide an interesting historical snapshot moving forward.
The goal...for me anyway.... is to see if I spend LESS in September than I have in previous months. " They" say that when you spend cash...when the paper actually has to go through your hands...that you tend to spend less. We shall see.
It will be an extra challenge because I have an 8 day trip coming up in mid September to WI, CA and Seattle so I may have to extend this challenge into October to get data from a more typical month.
Who knows?...it may become a permanent thing.
Feel free to join in. Find an accountability partner and go.
Please let me know what you find out.
Thanks!
Hi Leo.
Are you including DEBIT cards in this exercise. We do use debit cards which is really cash because the money comes out immediately.
[We are NOT using any plastic Anne. The only time we pull out a debit card is to get cash out of the ATM. “They” say a person typically spends 30% more using plastic. We shall see. -LEO]
It’s only September 6 and it’s been quite interesting already! I’m going to be inviting my clients to join in as well!
I have used cash for years now. I do believe it helps to keep the spending to a minimum. Having to go to the ATM is a pain, but I feel it pays off in the end. It keeps one from running to the gas pump for a quick trip as well because you have to get out in either the heat, rain or snow. Happy to hear someone else is giving it a try for a whole month. Will be interesting to see if my idea is valid or not.