Can You Live with No Cash?

Filed Under Cash

Lots of people have had to buckle down their finances in the last several months. For most, that’s meant cutting down on things and for some that’s meant cutting some things out completely. I’m no different. I’ve had to find some new ways to make ends meet. And while I was learning these new ways, I discovered something. I discovered I can actually go about my day-to-day living with no cash!

I didn’t start out trying to go “cashless,” it just sort of happened.

First, I started by limiting the number of times I went to the ATM machine each month – and I also limited the amount of quick cash I took out as well. Then, I tried to make that short term cash last as long as possible. This of course isn’t exactly rocket science. In fact, it was sort of like returning to those glorious days of college. It was mostly like trying to relearn an old habit.

All in all it was going fine. I was cutting almost $150.00 of spending out of my monthly budget. And then I made another (and I thought unrelated) change. I set up a small direct deposit to my prepaid debit card every payday.

Up to that point I’d only loaded up my prepaid card intermittently. Now I had decided to make it more convenient so I went to a direct deposit. I’d hoped to get more of a bead on my spending habits by examining my monthly statement. That turned out okay, but it also had quite a positive unexpected consequence – I started spending even less.

At first I postponed my weekly trip to the ATM because I had the reloadable debit card in my wallet and it was loaded up. Then I started making certain subtle spending decisions that involved businesses which were or were not cash only. And for some reason, it became really easy for me to keep a mental running balance in my head so I pretty much started making spending decisions based on a daily “allowance.”

Then just last month, I realized that I hadn’t had a single dollar bill in my pocket for nearly a month. I had gone all that time, living my normal life, and I hadn’t needed a dime of cold hard currency. It was a little eye-opening. In less than two months I’d transformed my spending habits to a point where I was saving an additional $50.00 to $100.00 per month. I really didn’t need cash!

So I haven’t been to an ATM in over two months, no cash advance at any time, and I’m feeling none the worse for the wear. At some point in time I’d like to increase the amount on my direct deposit and have the flexibility to spend a little more but that will have to wait until the economy bounces most of the way back. Until then, I think I’m fine.

I’m not sure what magical mechanism is at work here but it’s a little eerie. Prepaid debit cards are quite different than credit cards (even though they look and act the same). They force you into thinking about the money you want to spend beforehand instead of after and that makes the money you spend seem a little more valuable to you. As a result, you’re more considerate about how you let it go. It’s almost as if it turns your money into a good friend that you don’t want to see go instead of a brief acquaintance you never give a second thought to.

Now I’m not advocating that everyone go walking around with no emergency cash in their pocket. I’m just relating my individual experience with it. But still, its food for thought isn’t it? Can you live with no cash? How about for a month? Maybe for a week? Maybe just one day? Try your own experiment. You may find the results amazing. No cash knowledge is power!

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Cash, cash advance, emergency cash, need cash, No Cash, quick cash, short term cash

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