For the past several months, I've taken out my allotted grocery money in cash at the beginning of the month. It's a tactic I've been trying in support of my quest to spend less money on food, even though I looooooove food.
And I'm ready to call it: it's working.
Not that I've been perfect or anything, but I would say I'm showing noticeably more attention to the prices of what I'm buying, and I'm more likely to either decide not to buy something, or to choose something that's cheaper (like, given the choice between two kinds of fruit or two kinds of granola.) I am definitely saving money this way, although it's hard to say how much.
I keep reading that "studies say" that people who use credit cards just tend to spend more, and right now, I believe it. With food, it's so easy to just grab whatever and stick it in the cart; if you're limited, like I've been limiting myself, you have to be creative about fitting in exactly what you need, and there isn't a spare $7 left over for sushi or whatever.
So, cash it is, for the time being. The credit card rewards aren't worth it -- I'd get all of $2.50 cash back a month on my grocery money, and I'm absolutely sure I'd spend that and more if I were still using my card at the grocery store. (I still use it for basically everything else, though.)
I believe it too. It's easy for each transaction to be $5 (or more) than you anticipated when you're using credit cards. And that can add up over a month. I used to use actual cash and had the whole jar/envelope system going. My biggest thing is I needed to keep a float in my wallet for unexpected things that might come up and I hadn't reloaded my wallet. It was a bit more difficult because the jar expenses were for both me and my fiance, so I couldn't just carry around $100 in cash and say "that's my grocery money until X" or "gas" or whatever the expense might be. I am sure there are better ways of going about it (joint account on a debit card maybe) but we haven't found it.
ReplyDeleteBut I do need to get back to cash cash, instead of "debit cash"... that's how I spent my float away last month and played catch up the entire month.
I can see how this system would be way more difficult with two people. In fact, my BFF and her husband have been trying to solve just this problem -- how to keep track of cash between two people who are often spending it when the other's not around (on babysitting, most notably.) I don't think they've come up with a really good solution.
DeleteBut with me, I just get out X cash at the beginning of the month and then try to make it last, full stop.
I keep meaning to try this, but keep excusing not actually doing it by telling myself that it won't make a difference anyway, despite the fact that I've never actually tried doing it. Oops. I've been cutting my budget this month, so perhaps I should put my money where my mouth is and actually give cash a try.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I don't know if it's saving me hundred$ or anything; I don't have a very clear idea of what I was spending on food before (except "a lot"). But it's definitely changing my behavior, and I think, though I cant demonstrate it, that it's helping on the margins, at least. Let me know if you give it a shot next month.
DeleteInteresting experiment... I am not sure if I would really roll in the savings, I buy alot of meat in bulk when on sale and during most weeks buy mostly produce and other time sensitive stuff like milk. I can't say that I don't spend more, there are times when I may grab something because it is on sale that isn't on my list, but as long as it decreases my forward spending it is all good.
ReplyDeleteI mean, if you're not an impulse-buy shopper it probably wouldn't make a difference. I am definitely prone to just throwing a box of crackers ($4) and some ice cream ($5) into my cart even though it wasn't on the list, or grabbing a sandwich ($8) while I'm in the grocery store because I haven't eaten. So that really adds up, obviously.
Delete