My husband and I have decided to try a new method for our monthly budgeting. Usually, we use our credit card for all of our purchases, and then just pay it off each month. I read about a cash only idea that we're trying this month. First, we made a budget for groceries, clothing, entertainment, and miscellaneous expenses for the month. I went to the bank and withdrew what we thought we would use. (My husband gets paid once a month, so we just took everything for the whole month.) I labeled some envelopes for the different categories and put all of the money in.
So far, I have really liked this method. I took out my $50 for my grocery trip last night, and planned to use no more than that. While I would always stay close to my budgeted amount when I used credit cards, it was not a big deal to me if I went over a little bit. Since I only had $50 in my pocket, I couldn't go over what I planned. Not only did this help me to stay on my target, but I found myself sticking very closely to the grocery list I made before leaving. I wanted to save what was in my pocket and only spend what I absolutely had to. After my trips to Winn Dixie, Kroger and CVS, my total was $42. (I even have $4.50 in CVS Extra Care Bucks to use next week!) I bought everything I needed and stayed under budget!!!
Has anyone tried this method? What do you think about it? Tell me how you budget!
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I'm so glad you're doing this blog, Jana! We've tried the cash idea before, and I think it's the best way to make sure you stay under budget. But...we went back to credit cards (paying them off each month) to get the rewards perks that come with accumulating points from purchases. We've used the rewards to go on free vacations (airfare and hotels) and use that as our travel fund. It allows us to take a fun trip every couple of years for free (we're probably going to China next year - yay!)! Just a thought...you still can commit to stay within a budget using a credit card by keeping track of your purchases and sticking to your list.
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