Switching to cash for budgeting purposes- btdt stories?

[Hilltopmom]

Looking for tips from anyone who has gone to a mostly cash budget format.

 

We moved to a more expensive house recently & between all the moving & new house expenses, I'm looking into going to a cash system ( seems like it's been too easy lately to just charge stuff & wind up with a big monthly bill).

 

I don't actually have a budget right now, which is a problem, of course, cause I'm really not sure how much I need in each category.

 

Anyone wanna comment on how you made the switch or other cash budgeting tips? Thanks

 

(I've read Dave Ramsey already.. He wouldn't agree with our buy a bigger house method, but we had to move to town for my sanity)

[Caclcoca]

I don't like to carry a lot of cash, so I don't have a suggestion for that part.  But for how much to put in each category, I can tell you what we did.  For the first month, we made a best guess, and I kept track of everything we spent to put into categories.  We used those numbers the next month.  It is never perfect, but we tweak the numbers as needed.  Good luck!

[shawthorne44]

You can consider it a work-in-progress.   Go to cash now and leave the unknown categories in one misc. pile.  Keep a notebook of everything you spend.  As you figure stuff out, then setup more categories.  

[73349]

I use my debit card and a free app called Expense Log.

[Hilltopmom]

We use cash for nearly everything....even the utilities where we can do that. What questions do you have?

Ugh, I dunno. How'd you get started?

 

Let me do some more research tonight & come back with better questions later, I think :)

[fairfarmhand]

We do bills online. But stuff we go to the store for we use cash.

 

For groceries, make a list for the week and estimate each items cost.

 

 

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[HomeAgain]

We do half cash, half debit.

 

Start with a budget you tend to go over, like house supplies.  Set an amount, take it out in cash, and put it in an envelope in your purse.  You can slowly add other envelopes as necessary.

 

I take out food, music lessons, spending, and family needs in cash.  Unless I'm planning to spend the envelope, it stays home.  Mostly.  Food envelope is always in my purse. :lol: For the rest it helps to abstain if I'm not able to give into temptation immediately.

 

I don't take the gas budget out.  Because we save money using a gas station that is card only, I have a small, secured credit card for that purpose.  I buy gas, wait two days, and transfer the money over, taking it out of our computer based budget.  All bills are paid for from our checking account, doing electronic checks/transfers.

[Mbelle]

We use a cash system, with the exception of regular monthly bills.  We've been doing it for years now.  It did take some months to figure out how much we needed for each category.

There are some neat on-line envelope systems as well and that probably works well for many people.

 

[Seasider]

Make sure you have enough to work with in each category. When we started, I'd take a weekly amount for grocery and household items. Well, a few large household items really cut each week (like a big container of laundry detergent, shampoos, etc). We learned to take an amount for nongrocery needs once a month to stock up on toilet paper, etc, then to do grocery cash twice monthly. That allows me enough "working capital" to take advantage of unexpected sales and some bulk items. The trick is to hold on to enough cash through the period to be able to pick up fresh produce more than a couple of times a month.