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This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

Last year, my aunt underwent dental surgery that could have cost her thousands of dollars. The cheapest quote she got in the U.S. was $45,000. To get affordable health options, and save money, she sought out-of-country care. She told me she saved more than $20,000 when I told her about my dental emergency.

I was surprised to learn she’d had her teeth fixed because all I’d heard was that she’d gone on vacation to Mexico during the summer. I interrogated her over the phone.

“What did you get done?”

“Gum surgery and implants” she said.

“Ouch! Guess bad teeth run in the family. How did you pick the dentist?”

“I got quotes last time we went to see your grandma.”

“So how much did you end up paying in total with travel?

“The round-trip cost $500, which we already planned to pay to go visit. The bill was $24,250. Everything was $24,750.”

“What if there would have been complications?”

“That’s why we stayed over the whole summer just in case I had to go back. But everything went well. Plus the dentist studied and worked here [in the U.S.] so I knew he had experience.”

Things worked out well for my aunt. She didn’t have to worry about losing hours at work since she gets the summers off. Housing was also not a problem since she stayed with relatives. These are all things you must take into consideration because they will add to the expenses.

Would I travel to another country to get inexpensive dental or doctor care? I’m not sure. I guess it depends on the kind of care I needed. I wouldn’t do it to take care of a cavity or two. Normally, I’d jump at the opportunity to save that kind of money. But I’m hesitant to say yes because I’d be scared something would go wrong and I’d find myself in a country I know little about.

My aunt’s surgery went without a glitch, but if something had gone wrong her health and dental insurance from work wouldn’t have covered expenses. Since all her expenses where covered out of pocket, she would’ve had to fork over more money. Not only that, according to this NPR story, if something goes wrong in surgeries abroad there may not be much you can do. At least, in the states we have malpractice laws and medical standards that can help right a wrong.

Would you consider going out of country to get low-cost medical or dental care?

MCalatayud / Flickr

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

I was sitting in the dentist chair looking into the light when he told me exactly what I didn’t want to hear.

“You need a root canal.”

Ouch! The thought of having the dentist drill my molar was not as painful as wondering how much this was going to set me back.

I immediately began blaming myself. If only I hadn’t put off

going to the dentist, or had actually sat down to research and purchase insurance. I was going to get to it, eventually.

It just happened out of the blue. There was no pain. I was having toast and cereal for breakfast and felt a hard piece in my mouth.

“Eww, what’s in this cereal?”

I’ll spare you the yucky details. It was a piece of my molar. I found out after running my tongue and feeling a sharp edge.

After freaky out, I texted my dad. He directed me to go to the dentist.

“If it’s not that big, they’ll probably just patch it up,” he said.

That’s how my Friday morning started. By the end of the day, I was so thankful I had at least been diligent enough to put money away in an emergency fund.

So how much is it going to cost me? $1,400. Not bad considering the bill started at $2,800 for the root canal, two fillings and deep cleaning.

I managed to negotiate a lower price by offering to pay cash upfront. It also didn’t hurt that my little sister recently got her braces with their orthodontist.

This shrunk my emergency fund and left me feeling irresponsible. It also left me wondering if I should have taken the money from my budget or savings (as a form of punishment as a percentage is for fun) instead of my emergency fund.

You see, although necessary and urgent, I’m having doubt about whether it’s an emergency as there is no pain or blood just a lot of worrying and extensive Google searches about broken teeth and root canals.

Where would you have taken the money from?

Related posts:

Should I dip into savings to meet my budget?
Your question: Affordable health insurance options?
Cash v. credit: easier to save money with paper or plastic?

Thms.nl/Flickr

It’s the beginning of a new year and a great time to assess my financial actions and make new budgetary policy. Here are my top five financial New Year’s resolutions:

1. Make a separate gasoline fund for each car. As gas prices go up and the number of drivers and cars in my family also rises, the money I am spending on gasoline is getting out of control. Personally, I am very good at looking at my errands and piggybacking them for the most efficient route. However, the rest of the family (especially the teenagers) are not as driven to do this as I am. I am going to get them more motivated by giving them a certain amount of gas money per week to get to classes and run errands. After that cash is gone, they will have to pay for the gas with their own money, take the bus, or stay home. This resolution has the most complexities to it, but I really want to get the gas expenses under control.

2. Make weekly menu plans and only grocery shop with lists. During the time periods of my life that I have done this, I have not only saved money but I have lost weight. Just walking around the store and picking up stuff I think I need always leads to too much cheese, too many carbs,  too much sugar and too much cost.  Sure, I do also pick up random fruits and veggies, but too often they rot in the fridge because the family reaches for the expensive and unhealthy items first.

3. Schedule at least one hour a week that is dedicated to financial planning. This time can be spent balancing my checkbook, working on my budget, planning upcoming spending and talking to my family about our finances. This is a great time to work with the kids on balancing their own checkbooks and creating their own budgets.

4. Follow the great ideas from America’s Cheapest Family’s new book, Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half, such as looking high and low on the shelves for the best sales, buy prepackaged veggies instead of single items for a better unit price and purchasing fruits and veggies that are in season.

5. Use cash whenever possible. I used to only use cash for day to day spending, such as buying groceries, gas, and sundries. With prices rising, it became more comfortable to instead use my debit card. BUT, I believe that using plastic instead of cash is one of the main reasons that people blow their budget. If I only have twenty dollars in my pocket, I am less likely to purchase that $4.99 impulse buy. This is without a doubt the number one budget keeping tip that I can give anyone (including myself.)

Those are my financial resolutions. What do you think of my ideas? What are you going to do to improve your spending habits this year?

Anthrocopy/Flickr

Reader Diane sent me a darn good question via a comment on my post about approaching the end of my credit card ban. “When the experiment is over, will you go back to spending as before or will you make some changes,” Diane asked. “Either way, why?” My month-long cash-only spending experiment definitely changed the way I will spend money. Going forward I’m going to make three changes.

• I’m no longer going to rely strictly on credit cards because I scrutinize purchases more with cash. My goal is to use cash for everything under $50, which are the purchases that have the most wiggle room. Think I’m giving up a ton of credit cards perks? During the past seven months I earned an average of $16 in cash-back rewards each month. With cash I spent $200 less. That’s a much bigger perk!
• I’m going to strictly use cash for groceries because I spend so much more carefully with greenbacks. My dollars are finite no matter how I pay, but using cash makes my limits feel more apparent.
• I’m going to leave my credit card at home unless I specifically plan to use it. The more I pre-think about purchases before I leave home, the more likely I am to spend less.

Before the experiment I used to use cash for about 10% of my purchases and credit for the other 90%. Now I think my ratio is going to be closer to 60/40. What’s your ratio?

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.

Evil Erin/Flickr

I’ve gotten a lot of questions from readers about my month-long cash-only experiment. Why am I only spending cash in April? What is the goal? Did my “emergency” mattress purchase come from savings or the regular budget? How much money do I have left to spend this month? Answers below.

Q: Is the mission of your cash-only experiment to find out how much money you need to live on per month? How much you want to live on per month? Or some combination thereof? – Concetta

A: Neither. I know how much money I have to spend after bills and savings every month. And most months I’m good at staying within the limit I’ve set for myself.

Q: Is the point just not to use credit? Or is it more about how to use credit smartly? – Concetta

A: Yes and yes! I usually rely on credit heavily because I spend cash quickly, don’t like going to the ATM, and prefer not to carry gobs of money. But studies show people are more reluctant to spend cash over credit. An NPR story from 2008 says psychology is responsible. I was curious if spending only cash would change my habits and reduce my overall spending. In the process, I’m learning how to use credit smartly.

Q: Part of an exercise like this is to be able to defer those expenses until they do fit into the budget. Is the point of this to simply pay cash for everything (no matter if the budget is met) or is it to begin the process of defining wants from needs? – Janet

A: Yes, the point is to pay cash for everything, even major purchases. In my book, defining needs versus wants is unrelated to how you pay for them. Instead, defining needs versus wants is about sitting down with paper, pencil, and a calculator and creating a first budget. Once you have taken into account regular bills, irregular expenses, and fixed expenses, you will know how much money you can actually spend each month on fun stuff like meals out, movie tickets, and clothes.

Q: What happened to the mattress!? – Sarah

Back story: I put off buying a mattress for so long that after three sleep-deprived nights I had to start sleeping on the couch or shell out for a new mattress. I chose the latter, seeing how the couch is covered in dog hair. From browsing mattress sale flyers, I knew I could get one for under $1,000. I researched coils, padding, and natural fibers online and realized only two things mattered. Was the mattress comfortable? If so, did it fit my budget? A good friend highly recommended IKEA and from the website I was confident I could find a mattress within my budget, less than $500.

A: I went to IKEA, found a comfy mattress within budget, and lugged it home with the help of a burly friend. I’m sleeping easy, but debating whether the $533 mattress should come out of my monthly budget or savings? I tossed around the pros and cons for a week, asked readers to weigh in, consulted friends, and decided the mattress will come out of my savings.

Here’s why. I have ample savings to cover a big last-minute purchase like this. Even though I put off the mattress purchase until it became an emergency, for weeks I had been mentally preparing myself for the big purchase.

Q: What I want to know is how you researched this mattress for the features you wanted and price before spending the money. For example, did you consult Consumer Reports? Tell all, BB. – Diane

A: See above.

Q: So how much money do you have left to spend this month? (I submitted this one!)

A: My target spending was $1,200 for April. If that number seems high, hang tight. I’m writing a future post about my budgeting system and why my so-called discretionary spending is higher than other budgeting systems. So far I’ve made three ATM withdrawals totaling $1,200, but the $533 mattress came from savings so I have $667 left to spend this month. Not bad!

To reverse my spendy trend, I decided to carefully plan my errands and grocery trip yesterday so I would only have $5 extra with me. More often than not, if I always have an emergency $20 bill on me, I’m going to spend it. I estimated the cost of my errands ($5 – shoe repair guy; $25 – groceries; $5 – vitamins) and put $40 in my wallet.

The shoe repair bill was actually $7, raising my awareness of my remaining dollars. My first grocery stop added up to $11.87, an insane amount for three items (hummus, cheese, and salsa). I have a tasty hummus recipe and am debating making my own.

When I arrived at the second grocery store I was hyper aware of how much  money I had left over – $21.13. Having a finite amount of dollars influenced what I purchased. I bought super cheap in-season strawberries for $.99 instead of bananas, and passed on sliced lunch meat so I could buy chicken thighs and pork chops, the two most expensive items on my list.

As I put each item into my cart, I wrote down its cost. When I felt I was approaching my dollar limit, I added everything up, including tax. Having to pay close attention to – no, being controlled by my limited funds – was painful. With a credit card, I do not limit myself when it comes to food. I aim to spend about $27 a week on groceries, but if a staple is on sale or I see a good deal, I do not hesitate to overspend. With cash, I don’t have that option.

By the time I made it to the drugstore to buy vitamins, I had a little over $6 left. I could pay for the vitamins using a $4 off coupon and the spare coins in my wallet, but I walked out of the store emptyhanded. It didn’t feel right to go home penniless.

That’s partly because I feel more generous with a fat wad of bills in my pocket. I’ve fronted a bar cover for friends, paid for breakfast at a coffee shop, and treated myself to a package of beef jerky at a roadside stand. Tasty – but pricey! There was a tank of gas and…I can’t remember the rest.

I’m used to having a neat record of all my purchases at the end of the month on my credit card bill. With cash I forget to ask for a receipt and often the cashier forgets to give me one. How much money at the end of the month will be unaccounted for? I’m guessing almost half.

As I said in an earlier post on preparing to go without plastic, I hid my credit and debit cards in my jewelry box. Later that day I opened a letter from my Alma mater asking for money. I thought, “I can charge this donation and get cash back!” (My credit card has a 1-3% cash back deal). When I pulled out my wallet to retrieve the 16 digits to write on the form, I remembered my credit card moratorium. Oops! I will have to wait until May to send my school a contribution.

The next day I pulled my debit card out of its hiding place. I was going on a solo road trip and decided to carry it as a backup, just in case. If for some reason my car broke down, I would most likely need more than $300 – my cash allotment for the weekend – for the fix. Not that I plan to spend $300 in one weekend. I’m carrying around extra cash because I’m worried about not having enough money, which leads me to spend more because I have so much money. How ironic!

I’m not quitting, however. Support from readers has helped, including this email from Ellen, who saw my column in the N.J. Star-Ledger:

I read your column on going plastic-free (a.k.a. sans credit cards) and wanted to throw you some words of encouragement from someone who’s been there, cashed that. About ten years ago I successfully completed a credit card counseling program, one which required me to surrender all my plastic for the duration it took me to pay down my debt.

It was a small price to pay for getting my payments consolidated, interest rates lowered and  getting those pesky collection calls to stop clogging my voicemail. So for three years, I went plastic-free all while I got my debt in order. Every transaction that required a credit card–like buying an airline ticket online–I simply used my debit card which contained a Visa logo. This win-win allowed me to make online purchases and have the money directly withdrawn from my checking account.

When I finally received the letter declaring me debt-free I eased back into just one credit card which I pay in full or darned-well near try. Since I’m still on a strict budget, I still try and use my debit card only. Good luck on your cash-only venture.

I’m rootin’ for ya.

me and the sysop/Flickr

The votes are in, I’m going credit card-less for one month beginning April 1 despite the disadvantages of giving up credit. Here’s how I’m going to prepare.

• Hide my two credit cards in my jewelry box so they are out of sight, out of mind.
• Average my credit card bills from Jan, Feb, and March and set that as my spending limit for April.
• Head to my local bank branch to withdraw a fat roll of cash (my average credit spending from the past three months).
• Carry around $100 at a time for security.
• Begin spending!

My biggest concerns are safety, not having enough cash on me, and figuring out what to do about online purchases that require credit. I’ve decided to keep paying two bills - cell phone and student loan – as I have in the past, through a transfer from my checking account. These bills are consistent month to month and I don’t have the option to not pay them. My focus is on how using cash changes my day-to-day spending, not my fixed expenses. Remember how I got into this mess?

Okay! Ready, set…cash!

UPDATE: Joe asks:

Does that also mean no debit cards? I don’t use credit cards often, but I live by my debit card.

Yes, Joe, that means no debit cards. I’m going to be free of plastic!

Janet has a neat system that tricks her brain into thinking she only has cash:

BlatantNews.com/Flickr

This post is brought to you by Coupon Cactus, a great source of online coupon codes for taxes, groceries, and more.

Gulp. Readers overwhelmingly supported my experiment to give up credit cards for one month and rely solely on cash. When I last checked, 86% of readers said go for it, 8% suggested an alternative, 4% said leave the plastic at home, and 2% had no opinion but were nice enough to vote.

Richard would never give up using credit cards because of the perks he earns.

We use our credit card for everything we can. Why? Airline miles. Last year we flew roundtrip to London, business class, for a total of $330 (taxes). However… we immediately deduct all purchases from our checking account (Quicken), sort of a pseudo-debit card so it’s like we pay cash. I pay the credit card bill online a day or two before the statement date so our credit report shows minimal card usage.

Ellie D.’s cash-only system has withstood the test of time:

Having a pay-as-you-go routine is definitely more economical than using cc’s for all your expenditures. I withdraw a certain amount of cash from my checking account each month, and ration it out on a weekly basis. When it’s gone, that’s it! However, I usually have something left at the end of each month, which means withdrawing less $$$ the next month. I do use cc’s on occasion, but pay them off monthly, and have never had a debit card.

Ashley pointed out three major disadvantages of using cash-only:

…a reason I have had problems making the switch is that I use mint.com and if I use cash it can’t track my purchases (I could but always forget to update and next thing I know I don’t remember if I spent $5 on groceries, $10 for a meal and $5 for parking or was it $10 on groceries and $5 on the other two. And finally, going only cash you can’t gain points that are available with some credit and debit cards and you can’t shop online where sometimes it is possible to find a better deal on products.

But Jenni says there is one major perk – staying on budget!

A dear friend uses this method All The Time, and she has 3 girls in various activities. Her budget is planned down to the penny, and when they are paid she gets out the cash she will need for the entire month. She bags the cash for their activities and labels them (i.e. “piano”, “ballet”, etc.), then does the same with her bills (“market”, “cleaners”, etc.). She even has a “miscellaneous” baggie for gifts and mishaps. She saves quite a bit of money every month, and she and her hubby are self-employed, so this helps in leaner times. Her spending is never out of control! LOVE her organization.

Tamara is going through a similar process:

I am in the process of transitioning to all cash. I think it will make me think twice about my purchases, and I am going to split up my money into jars to better track where my money is going using Gail’s system (http://gailvazoxlade.com/blog/).

All of this discussion makes me want to take a closer look at the perks I am earning using my credit cards. Which is greater? The credit card rewards I am earning or the money I am saving (as many readers say I will on a cash-only diet) by leaving the plastic behind? I won’t know the answer to this question until the end of the experiment, which begins April 1.

In the next few days I’ll think about how to deal with online purchases that require a credit card and what I’ll do about bills that I pay on my credit card. What other guidelines should I set before the cash-only experiment begins April 1?