Cash Diet Challenge Update

It has been a little over 2 months now and I have purchased a majority of my consumer goods using only cash. As mentioned previously, the objective is to think of cash as a physical and tangible tool and if you can see it go, supposedly you will spend less as compared to other common transactions involving credit or debit cards. When I initially tried this, I decided to try working with a living budget of $75 per week. I excluded my rent, phone and a couple of other expenses that I pay directly online. Every week I would just use cash and it seemed to work out well. I found that I was put in a more conscious mood when making purchases. All of a sudden my daily coffee purchases turned into occasional weekly purchases and I would start using coupons and look at weekly flyers for discounts on product I normally use.

           

            I decided to continue this trend, as I believe it is important too have self control with your personal finances. Smart consumer habits will allow me to save money, invest wisely and assist me in reaching my future financial goals. I will have a better chance at buying a big item such as a car or qualifying for a mortgage or retire early if proper saving habits start young. As a result of this experiment, I was able to save $166.90 in just 2 months. That might not seem like a lot but that is over $1,001 per year in additional savings.  I was busy this morning rolling this money as most of it was loose change.

I hope that I will be able to save even more in the future with some reliance on a cash diet method. I think that my proportion of savings will continue to grow incrementally as my income goes up and my ability to live within means stays consistent I think it is true that using plastic to cover purchases is convenient and secure but we really don’t think about how quickly or money goes.