Like you - I found cash stuffing to be cumbersome, but I also would consistently go over budget when I used by debit/credit card. So, I started to use cash for categories I tend to go over on: groceries (food and household supplies), personal care (toiletries, beauty care, wellness), and fun (eating out, entertainment, etc.). This really helped me. It kept things simple and I made more intentional purchases. Knowing I only have certain amount of $ on hand prevented me from making impulse purchases. I would also have cash left over that I would put towards a $5k cash challenge I'm doing.
Just wanted to clarify one thing. With VB we treat our LOC/CC as a checking account. We put money in and pay expenses from that account. The difference between paying from a LOC/CC than a checking account is that paying from checking account saves you no interest. As opposed to putting the money in LOC/CC which pushes down the average daily balance, lowering the amount of interest paid for the month. Have a great day.
@moneywithmocha7787 It was just a clarification on my part. What you are doing by bill matching in your situation is increasing cash flow because your meeting the minimum payment then reusing those dollars to meet expense. Have a great day.
I'm disappointed that they keep lowering your credit limit, but happy that you found your own system of paying things from one debit account. Have a great day.
Make small chunk payments instead of large payments at once so they don’t lower your credit limit. So a payment of $100 each day until you get up to your $500.
I agree about spending all over the place. Eating out is killing me!!! Just from may 1st we’ve spent over $300 going out to eat. It’s only the 6th!!!😱😱
Don't beat yourself up about the spending. I don't cook so I know most of my spending is on food. I think it helps to spend on one card because it's easier to track on a daily and weekly basis.
I also notice that eating from restaurants was my biggest problem. So the way I fought that was compare the what I was paying from eating out and then look at how much groceries I could get if I stopped eating out. It's made a huge difference. Have a great day.
