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Cash envelopes vs. one debit card: which one keeps your grocery bill lower?
I used to swipe my debit card for everything and just check the app later, and my grocery spending crept up to around $780 a month without me noticing. Six months ago I switched to pulling $500 in cash every payday for food and gas, and I have not gone over once since, mostly because handing over bills hurts in a way tapping a card never did. My brother says this is silly and that he tracks everything in a spreadsheet with his card and stays under budget just fine. I get that cash is annoying and some stores near me barely take it now, plus you lose any rewards. So which side are you on, does paper money really keep you honest or is a good spreadsheet just as good?
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brooket4318d ago
My husband calls my cash envelope system my "little arts and crafts project" because I have a purple one for groceries and a green one for gas and I tape them to the inside of the budget binder like a middle schooler. But here is the thing, the week I forget to hit the ATM and use my card instead, I swear I spend $60 more without blinking. Last month I did the math on my own spending and card weeks ran about 20 percent higher, mostly on little stuff like a fancy cheese I did not need. Is it embarrassing that paper money works on me like a toddler with a cookie jar? Maybe. But the numbers do not lie in my house.
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