Swapped to cash-only groceries for May and ended up with $40 extra at the end of the month

I figured I'd just waste time counting coins, but seeing the actual bills leave my hand made me stop grabbing junk snacks at the register in Publix, has anyone else noticed a difference between swiping plastic and handing over cash?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa_kelly19d ago

Oh absolutely, same thing happened to me. Started doing cash only for my weekly grocery run back in March and it was like a light bulb went off. The instant you hand over those twenties, you feel the money leaving your possession, not just some number on a screen. I found myself putting back bags of chips and fancy cheeses I would have tossed in the cart without a second thought if I was just tapping my card. At the end of the month I had an extra 50 bucks that I actually put toward the electric bill instead of it disappearing into junk food. There's something about the physical exchange that makes you actually value what you're buying.

barbara27819d ago

And totally agree with you tessa, it's like your brain finally registers what you're actually spending. That physical exchange of cash just hits different than tapping a card. I stopped buying so much random stuff too and my wallet definitely thanked me at the end of the month.