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?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
re: iPhone support. If you carelessly lost your iPhone again, even with this policy you wouldn’t be covered, right? You said “The policy does not include damage from negligence, loss,…” so I’m not sure how this would have helped you.
re: haircuts. I’ve been cutting my husband and boys hair now for a few years, saving a bundle. I’m never quite satisfied with one of my sons haircuts though, because it’s stick straight and every mistake shows. Last month I found a beauty school and took him to it. He was happy, but the hair cut was much worse than I usually do. As a bonus, now a month later, a bunch of hair is growing on the very crown of his head! Apparently, the lady must have dropped the clipper on his head and cut it off at the root, because now it’s all just fresh new hair growing straight up, ala, Little Rascal’s Alphalpha! Oy vey!
i love to save but i took up cutting my own hair beauty schools are nice but they have the right to refuse service and being tokd after waitinng 3 hours in front of everyone were not cutting your hair not worth it just look at youtube and you can learn a lot there its worked for me for the last 2 years
Credit cards are necessary in limited areas, such as buying airline tickets on-line, paying for the FlyAway from the Valley to LAX (it no longer accepts cash), etc. Using restraint with credit cards is the responsibility of the user, just as with most things we do in life. As for getting haircuts… Everyone has their own “fave” person or salon. The woman who has been cutting my frizzy, curly hair for years is one of the few who actually knows how to do a great cut, regardless of how difficult the hair is. Plus, she gives the most divine head/neck/shoulder massage in the world!
I’m so used to tracking my expenses on sites like Mint, Quicken that it is very tricky to account for cash withdrawals. I have to painstakingly remember how I spent that $20 and manually enter the breakdown and categories.
But if it does help you spend less then more power to you. Looks like towards the end of the experiment you really started thinking twice before spending.
Bargain babe, you are an extravagant person, iphone $400.00, contemplating haircut and coloring at $95.00, airfare for blogging conference. I gave up my cell phone back in 1995 with L.A. Cellular at about 90 cents a minute, I just bought a pay as you go phone two months ago at target for $10.00, and a $100.00 phone card for $93.00, I have not made any calls at this time. I feel I can not relate with your splurging. we really need to sacrifice during our financial crisis since the great depression.
I am so tired of people telling BargainBabe she is extravagant/overspending/frivolous/name your insult for the things she CHOOSES to spend her money on.
She is not claiming to be NeverSpendABuckBabe or SaveEveryPennyYouEarnBabe. She’s trying to find BARGAINS and live frugally and she lives WITHIN her means. If she can squeeze extra money from her budget for pleasures in life, pat on the back for her. Why do you work so hard if not to enjoy life? And calling her spending “splurging”? Please. I applaud Julia for her transparency and I don’t think she should have to justify what she feels are reasonable living expenses and occasional extravagances. Especially to people who are not even co-signers on her bank account. I shook my head in disbelief a few months ago when people criticized her for buying a new mattress. Come on people, be realistic. If the girl is sleeping on a mattress so uncomfortable that she considered buying a new one an emergency purchase, can’t we believe that she really needed it?
Julia, keep up the good work.