The “Paying Cash” Experience – 2 Months Later

cash-circleSome of you may remember that at the end of August I decided that starting in September, I would start paying cash for certain items (groceries, household stuff, & entertainment).

Obviously I hoped that this would lead to major savings.  Dave Ramsey professes that paying in cash will save around 12% or even more!  I was shooting for savings of around $100 per month.

I have to admit that it was a little weird paying for stuff using cash after so many years of putting everything on plastic.  Especially at the grocery store where the bill can easily be over $100.   But very quickly I started to have fun in those situations.  I think I surprise the clerk when I start flashing the AJs around (Andrew Jacksons).

As luck would have it, I’ve charted my expenses for 4 months (2 using credit cards, and 2 with paying cash).  So how about we see how things are going so far?

In July & August we spent on average:

  • $507.62 on groceries
  • $145.66 on household items
  • $67.06 on dinning out

For a total of $720.34.

In September & October we spent on average:

  • $481.92 on groceries
  • $133.18 on household items
  • $81.31 on dinning out

For a total of $696.41

Paying cash has been saving me $24 a month.

I know that $24 isn’t all that impressive, but at least I saved.

Actually I have a hunch that November’s grocery expenses will be much lower than previous months.  I think this for a couple of reasons:

  1. My daughter’s food allergies improved enough so we no longer have to avoid wheat & dairy.
  2. I hit some “sales” and stocked up on lunch items.  I don’t think I’ll have buy lunch until mid December 🙂

But there’s plenty of time left, so who knows what could happen.  It was mentioned in the comments of my last expense report , that I should try an envelope system to see real savings.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Starting in December we’ll set aside $450 for groceries, $125 for Household stuff, & $75 for going out.  The last two amounts will be lowered in January to $115 & $60 (I’m giving us a little bit extra for the holidays).

If we can make the January amounts work, that would be $620 for those three categories which would be $100 less than what we spent on those same items in July & August.

And that would be great!

Come winter, we need to save money any place we can because as I alluded to way back when in my Nitty Gritty post, heating costs are a killer!  I keep meaning to sign up for the budget plan, but I never get around to it (I did fill out an online form requesting this, but that seemed to do nothing).

Enough of my ramblings…

Do any of you use an envelope system?  Does it work?  Was it hard to get used to?  Did you stick with it?

I’m looking forward to hearing some of your experiences.

Until next time,

-DD

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