This is actually about junk food but thought it would relate to us unclutterers. There was a news story today that cash shoppers buy less junk food as they only buy what they need not what ever takes their fancy.
Thinking about it I realised that I often buy stuff at the store that I dont need because Im using card where as when I go on with only cash I think about what I need and when Ill use it.
Maybe helpful to those of us who have a problem with impulse shopping?
I find this works for me with food shopping. I take out a set amount of cash each week and it makes you think how you spend it - I do prevent myself from buying things and sometimes have to make choices. I think it is a good discipline. Would be good to do it in other areas - however I do buy quite a lot from the internet which means I can't use cash. I do however always use my debit card and not a credit card which means that if I don't have enough funds in my account I can't ahve something!
Hi
I also do shopping to buy things which are not much required with card.I feel we should avoid using card when we go out to buy something.
I think this only holds true when buying things that are inexpensive to begin with. Not sure about others, but I feel odd paying for things under $5 with a card. So if I have cash, I'll prefer to pay that way, whereas if I don't, I'm more likely to pick up an additional item to feel like using my card is worthwhile.
Another possible reason is that some places don't accept debit or credit cards below a certain amount, so if you don't have cash, you're forced to buy more items to be able to pay.
On the other hand, for things costing over $15 or so, I would rarely consider using cash; I only keep a relatively small amount of cash in my wallet, for small purchases, and using cash where I don't need to just means I'll need to make a withdrawal sooner.
As for not using one's credit card, I don't really agree with that. As long as you keep your limit low, and pay it off completely at regular intervals (for me, that's every pay day), it can be a better solution than using a debit card, mainly because there are lots of rewards and inventive programs associated with credit cards, but I have yet to see a debit card that gives you cash back...
This gets debated on the personal finance blogs all the time :)
Me, I think I spend less with the debit card, because I just hate to use it. Like Anita, I won't use it under a personal arbitrary amount. If I don't have any cash on me, I forego a lot of purchases entirely. But it seems to be true for a lot of people that they spend less with cash than with credit.
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