Congratulations! You’ve made it to day 3! So far, I’ve saved $44 on my spending freeze, by not buying what I normally would. How much have you saved? Put your victories in the comments below.
I was tempted to spend even more than $44, but I didn’t count the stuff I probably wouldn’t have ended up buying for real. When I talked myself out of a purchase, I moved the cash from my envelope system straight to my goal envelope for this challenge. It’s like I went ahead and spent them money, but instead of getting “stuff” it’s going towards what is really important to us.
Here’s the deal, if you aren’t using cash for your basic spending, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of your budget. We’ve tried it lots of other ways. Like putting it all on credit card so we had a trail (and paying it off at the end of the month) or using debit/credit cards and keeping the receipt to input.
With cash, you instantly see how much is left in your budget. When the cash is gone you are DONE.
Other methods take time before you can see clearly how much money is left in your budget. It takes long enough that you can spend a lot more than you had planned before realizing it. Plus, it’s proven that you spend more overall when sliding plastic than using cash. It’s because you know you will have enough money to get out of the store without embarrassment, but with cash you have to think about it, keep a little running total as you go and often put things back.
I know carrying around cash can be scary at first, but it’s worth it. (Plus if you get robbed you have a better chance of surviving if you have something to give them….)
I’m going to spend the next few days going into more detail about how cash works for us. Do you already use cash? How does it work for you?
Thank you Angela!
It is this spending freeze of yours that finally motivated me to start reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover that I have owned forever. I just started this morning and I’m over half finished. I have heard your experience with him before but I was giddy when I flipped the page and saw you and your family’s faces (only 4 kids and they were so little). I thought to myself, “she’s the reason I’m reading this.” Thank you again for gently prodding me in the direction I know I should be going all along!!!
Amanda
Aw, Amanda! I love this! Thank you for sharing your story with me.
Well, we have had to take a different approach to the spending freeze. Hubby’s truck needs work, lots of work. So, instead of paying someone to do it, he is recruiting my cousin (a mechanic) for advice and is doing the fix himself. Savings will be over $1000! We don’t have that much except in our emergency fund, so I will just be celebrating his desire to learn to fix things to save us some money!
Rebecca, This is awesome!!!!! I hope the repairs go well.
Here are my savings so far:
I was going to buy vanilla protein powder, but decided since we already have chocolate at home, I would just use that until next month. Savings $20. Also, I was going to buy moisturizer and foundation for my face, but decided to use up all the bottles that have just a little bit left in them instead. Lol! Savings $30.00. This challenge is really helping me think about my purchases more, that I can use something until it is gone, instead of buying new before it is gone!