Master the art of cash-only budgeting. Discover how cash can simplify your finances and help you achieve your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not everyone who uses a budget likes to use cash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, some people are meant to use the cash-only budgeting system<\/strong><\/a> because it’s right for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A budget for us meant that it would help us build wealth and keep us debt-free along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, I have to say it’s doing its job, but it’s not working on its own. It takes two, the budget and you, to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cash is something that most people hang on to for dear life, not in the sense of saving but making sure they don’t lose it. Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s simple. Cash can get you from point A to point B or buy whatever you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cash is what makes the world go round and what keeps most people sane simply because when we have no money, life sucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem with cash for some people is that they don’t know how to hang on to it or how to use a credit card correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forget the credit card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The debit card is a much more accessible form of plastic with which to blow money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, it’s used widely, but not everyone knows how to handle cash and plastic similarly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve said budgeting isn’t rocket science, but for some people, saving money is complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know one lady who has had many credit cards over the years, and each one has been maxed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She can’t control her spending habits with a credit card, so how would a budget work for her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, she could budget if she wanted to, but if she is freely spending money, she doesn’t have it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The odds are the budget will never balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She likely would not have the savings to pay for the credit card in full each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is where the credit card frenzy becomes fun for those who do pay off a credit card in full each month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of my fans gets so many perks using a credit card that she doesn’t even care how much interest they charge. But why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple, she pays the credit card in full each month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She is responsible with her credit cards and knows that if she is smart, she can make the credit card work in her favour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing so helps her and her husband travel for nearly nothing each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are the same with using a credit card and hardly ever have cash on us or use a debit card unless we have to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most times, if we are forced to use a debit card, my wife and I look at each other, trying to remember the PIN, lol. That goes to show you how often we use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier last year, Eva had a contribution post from Teens Got Cents, and she talked about using the cash envelope system<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using this type of system is an excellent alternative for those who want to budget but just can’t get a grip on using available credit or don’t have credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related:<\/strong> The Magic Cash Budget Jars Changed Our Lives<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The critical factor here is that using a cash-only budgeting system still means that you are responsible for how you spend your money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You still need to document your expenses and pay off your monthly debts with cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The simplified part of the cash-only budget is that you use cash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the money is gone, it’s gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our friend, who just can’t seem to work the available credit in her name, has since gotten rid of her credit cards, which she made on her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember that cancelling credit cards can impact your overall credit score. Sometimes it’s best to hide or cut them up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you decide to cancel your credit cards, first order your free credit report<\/strong> to see precisely what you have for credit cards in your name and consult a professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out your credit score, by checking out Credit Verify<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get your Free Credit Score and a $1 Credit Report<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know you can’t sit down weekly to input data into a budget, a cash-only budget is better for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m not saying it won’t work, I’m just guessing how much you’ve spent all month using credit and debit cards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you can’t pay the cards in full nor care about how much you’ve spent, why waste your time with a budget in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Credit cards were never meant to be used as free money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although many people use credit cards this way with excuse after excuse about how they will pay the debt off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For some reason, doing the math and paying interest on the balance doesn’t register.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if they do find out how much the credit card companies are making from them, they don’t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All is good as long as no one knocks on their door trying to collect money and that minimum balance is paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s a bad attitude, and if you want to tell me you have no other choice, I’ll say that you need to make a decision fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your credit card won’t last you forever, and you still need to pay it back and live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using cash to budget is great for those who don’t want any money temptations each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s also a great way to manage your obsession with shopping and spending on items you don’t need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I often see people selling stuff online and wonder where on earth they get it, let alone store it in their house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, you see the oddest items and wonder if they bought them or if someone was silly enough to blog their cash to buy them as a gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cash is the only way to force you to stick to your budget as long as you keep monitoring your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s easy to spend cash just as fast as using debit or credit cards,, so learning to say no, I’m on a budget<\/a> <\/strong>is still important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your friends want to go out for dinner and you have no cash in your wallet, say no, sorry, not tonight\u2014end of story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will understand if they are your friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you feel left out because you don’t have enough cash to do things with your friends, pay down debt, earn more, and save more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not hard to figure out, but if you ignore the simplicity of budgeting for li, you have to deal with the bills and find a way to pay for them or use the snowball method<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A great way to start learning if the cash budget is for you is to hide those credit and debit cards and forget about them for a few months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you still owe a balance on them, you’ll still need to pay them off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You hid the card, not what you owe on them. Debt is debt until it’s paid in full or rectified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don’t already have a budget,, you can download our free Excel budget<\/a> <\/strong>at Canadian Budget Binder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You don’t need to pay to use a budget. It’s pretty straightforward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, some other free budgeting systems are online, so choose what’s right for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people thrive on the pen and paper budget, so keeping notes in a budget binder or book is also fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I post our family budget monthly for our family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to view an actual budget, you can review our monthly budget library<\/a><\/strong> dating back to 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not every month is great, but what we know is where our money is going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great thing about a paper budget is that you can always keep it on you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, if you have a smartphone, many budgeting apps allow you to check your budget if needed while out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are confident in knowing our numbers and what we can and can’t spend when shopping because we update our budget weekly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you like the cash envelopes system like Eva to separate how much cash you spend in your budget categories, use what’s easiest for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t forget to always ask for receipts whether you use cash or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Without your receipts<\/a><\/strong>, it’s challenging to track your spending, and guessing isn’t going to be good enough for a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calculate the basic average income you brought into the household over the past 3-6 months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s significantly better to budget using a lower monthly net income than a higher one if your hours fluctuate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will give you a more accurate figure with which to budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the next few months,, use the cash-only budget to see if you can pay down your debts faster and stop spending money you don’t have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, you will know whether the cash-only budget is for you or you aren’t meant to budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You’re not devoting the time necessary to getting or keeping your finances on track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You may think carrying that credit card with you and taking out a cash advance on the card is smart, but think again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ll pay dearly, so put the credit cards away to give yourself a fair shot using cash only for a few months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, you can check how you made out over the three or so months and decide what’s best for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’d suggest talking to a professional financial advisor or someone who specializes in helping people one-on-one with budgeting their money if you’re still struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, it takes more than reading a blog post or articles on the internet, and you need someone to guide you in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If that’s you then do what you need to do, after all isn’t your life worth that much? I know mine is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discussion: <\/strong>Do you use a cash-only budget, and how has it changed your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please leave your comments below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks for reading, <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. CBB <\/p>\n\n\n\n Related Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Master the art of cash-only budgeting. Discover how cash can simplify your finances and help you achieve your goals. Not everyone who uses a budget likes to use cash. However, some people are meant to use the cash-only budgeting system because it’s right for them. A budget for us meant that it would help us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-jtr":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[613],"tags":[36,4633,1108,4634,4635,1041,2865,4636,4637,4638,1764,552,4639],"class_list":{"0":"post-16658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-about-budgets","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-budget-app","10":"tag-budget-binder","11":"tag-budget-jars","12":"tag-canadian-credit-cards","13":"tag-cash","14":"tag-cash-budget","15":"tag-cash-envelope","16":"tag-cash-only","17":"tag-cash-only-budget","18":"tag-credit-cards","19":"tag-credit-report","20":"tag-teens-got-cents"},"yoast_head":"\nLimit Credit Card Use<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Know Your Credit Score For Cash-Only Budgeting <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
All Debt Must Be Repaid <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cash-Only Budget<\/span>ing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Any Form Of Budgeting Is Important<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cash-Only Budgeting- Is It Right For You? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n