Right now, I have 75 cents of cash with me. Here is the story behind it.
Till the last month, at the start of every month, I used to withdraw considerable amount of cash for a number reasons. However, the withdrawn cash had an uncanny habit of “disappearing” without a trace by the end of the month. This used to happen almost every month, irrespective of what amount I had to begin with.
To stem this unhealthy cash flow, I have decided to withdraw only $10 at the start of each month and have almost every expense accounted for on credit cards. Hopefully this will discourage my money from vanishing on me. I want to stick to this for the next few months, just to see how it goes.
So far, I have used $4.50 twice for laundry. That should have left me with $1 at this time. But a quarter has still managed to disappear, so I am now left with 75 cents. However, since I have enough supply of clean clothes to last me for the rest of the month, I am hoping to see October without another cash withdrawal.
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I’m pretty much the same way - I canNOT take out cash or it just *poof* disappears. I try not to withdraw any cash at all unless I have a specific, immediate use for it.
May work in US if you are not traveling by bus. But what about India? Still I see many shops where I present my credit card and the chappie’s after_sale_happiness just evaporates!
kira: we are pretty much in the same boat then.
nku: yeah right, i can live with it because this is a small place and i just walk to my workplace. in bigger cities you need some cash in your pocket. As for India, I think they say “Cash is king” ..anything that says “credit” is frowned upon; plus I am sure they dont like paying percentage-per-transaction fees to the credi card companies too.
Same for me…the cash just “disappears” so now I use a cc to account for it all. Every once in a while though, I try “the cash thing” to see if my recordkeeping has gotten any better..but it hasn’t. Good luck!
I use Quicken, and record my every single purchase in it, including cash ones. I have accounts set up for “cash”. When I get paid, I “transfer” money from my checking to this non-existant account, say, “groceries”. Then I take the cash out and put it in an envelope. When I spend it, I record it. The small change (pennies, nickels…) goes into a jar.
My money doesn’t disappear but I can certainly see where I waste it!!
sharla: that good stuff with quicken…that’s what I call real discipline. it’s better to know where you spent/wasted your money than to simply have it vanished.
I do the exact opposite of you Golbguru. When I use a credit card, often the expenses just keep adding up and I loose track of how much I spend. So instead I’m going the other way. Each week I withdraw a set amount of cash to cover all of my food and fun expenses.
By never pulling money twice in a single week, it’s easy for me to stick to my budget. If I’m down to my last $5 by friday, I’d better buy some Mac and Cheese to last me until Monday…
the landlord: that is really interesting. looks like you are not using stuff like Yodlee :). If its working for you then you must be meticulous in keeping a record of the cash expenses. I am a bit lazy in that department..usually the receipts are lost and memory plays mind games
If my fiance could, he would. Just let me withdraw $10 each month. And I really do try my best. I’ll take your tip on this one
There are many benefits of electronic money…
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