Clemson/Flickr
I was tempted to use my credit card four times this month, despite my pledge to spend only cash. None of the purchases were hard to push off or say no to. (I also put off purchasing airfare and making a hotel reservation for a blogging conference in July.)
1. A letter from my Alma Mater asking for money prompted me to pull out my credit card. Then I remembered my self-imposed ban. The letter is in my queue for May.
2. A coupon to renew my BargainBabe.com domain made me seriously consider breaking my credit card ban to get the discount. But the URL does not expire until June, so I can re-up in May.
3. A deal for a haircut (which I’m in need of) and hair coloring (which I’ve been contemplating) for $95 (orig. $225) landed in my inbox via SocialBuy, a new Groupon-type site for Los Angeles deals. I’m glad I passed, however, because a few days later I got a recommendation for a woman in Glendale who gives cuts for $20. My appointment is next week. (Full disclosure: SocialBuy’s founder is a friend of mine and is helping me improve my site).
4. Last year I forked over a whopping $400 over carelessly losing my iPhone. Ouch. A friend told me insuring an iPhone is super cheap, and indeed AppleCare costs $69 for hardware and software support, battery fixes, and phone support. The policy lasts for two years from the purchase date, so if I buy it in May I’ll get 19 months of coverage, which is less than $4 a month. The policy does not include damage from negligence, loss, or theft, however, so I may pursue other policies.
Frankly, I’m surprised that not a single purchase that required a credit card came up in April. I fully expected to confront 2-3 transactions that required credit. Is credit necessary after all?
Dplanet/Flickr
The day of reckoning is here. I sorted through my receipts and tallied my discretionary expenditures during my month-long cash-only experiment. The tally below does not include fixed bills like rent. (New to my forward-thinking budgeting system? It takes 15 minutes to set up.)
Overall, more than a third of my discretionary spending – 35 percent – is unaccounted for because I forgot to ask for a receipt. That means a picture of my spending provided below is woefully incomplete. This is also why some of my category totals, like meals out, seem low.
A number of seemingly random items sucked up my dollars – like bike repairs and gear in preparation for a triathlon May 1. I say seemingly random because unusual expenses like these pop up every month without fail. This is the main reason I created a forward-thinking budgeting system.
My totals for each spending category include tax.
Groceries: $172.22
Meals out, including coffee: $21.12
Drugstore items: $43.10
Bicycling gear and repairs: $169.38, including $100 to ship bike across the country and back
Business supplies: $15.86
Ski trip: $95
House and garden: $45.52
Gas:$41.57
Camping: $40
TOTAL accounted for spending for April: $643.77
TOTAL ATM withdrawals: $1,000
Cash left in my pocket: $11 (to last me until Saturday)
Total unaccounted spending: $345.23
Total rebates and gift cards earned: $29.69
Percent of spending unaccounted for: 35 percent!
My month-long cash-only experiment has taught me a lot about money. I dipped into savings only once, and that was to cover a $533 emergency mattress purchase. I’m telling you it really was an emergency! Grocery shopping takes longer because, with a finite supply of cash in my pocket, I add up the cost of each item I put into my cart so that I have enough money at check out.
