Cash/Envelope Users - ATM Card Question

[Fuamami]

Do you leave your ATM card at home?

I've tried to do the cash/envelope method, but then many times I've just used my ATM card when I rang up over what I had, especially at the grocery store. I had the money in my account, so it wasn't like I was getting overdrawn, but it messes up the accounting pretty badly.

So maybe the envelope system just isn't for me? Or should I go cold turkey and leave my ATM card home? And is so, what do I do in case of an emergency?

[jlutgendorf]

I try to set a budget or else take all of my cash with me.

For example, we can spend $7 a day on groceries, so I just don't buy more than that or else I bring my whole food budget money with me (if I'm shopping for several days at once) and plan out ahead of time what I NEED to buy and how much I can spend.

~Julia

[mosesface]

if i need to spend more than i have budgeted, my choices are to put something back or subtract from another envelope. you're using cash to stay within the budget. relying on the debit card defeats the purpose.

if this is something that's happening more than once or twice, i would take a hard look at my choices and my budget. one of them is not working.

[milletpuff]

I leave all cards except one joint emergency card at home when I am doing cash-only. It took a little while until I got good at figuring out how much to buy at a time, how to keep below the limit, etc. I also raid other envelopes some times, but it's always the "entertainment" money, which is pretty thin anyway.

[Fuamami]

Originally Posted by mosesface

if i need to spend more than i have budgeted, my choices are to put something back or subtract from another envelope. you're using cash to stay within the budget. relying on the debit card defeats the purpose.

if this is something that's happening more than once or twice, i would take a hard look at my choices and my budget. one of them is not working.

Well, I've only really tried to go to the envelope system once. I was actually doing okay, because I was under on groceries for the first two weeks, and then the next week I was over, but had stupidly only brought the weekly budgeted amount instead of all the envelopes.

I think my budget works, but my problem is keeping track in the store of how much I've already put in my cart. When I can keep track, I can stay under pretty easily. But I didn't know what I wanted to put back, two kids were flipping out, I'd already bagged half of the stuff anyway, and I just whipped out the ATM card. Maybe I should just use the ATM card for groceries, but concentrate on keeping tabs on how much I've spent.

[mosesface]

yeah, it takes a while to really get the grocery budget working. it's all based on your patterns.

while i may buy different things each week, i pretty much buy the SAME things every month. so i build a monthly grocery budget and NEVER raid the grocery envelope for extra cash. if there is any left at the end of the month, it usually means i'm about to have to buy dog food and just forgot.

study your grocery receipts for a few weeks. look for spending patterns and try to familiarize yourself with how much things really cost. there are lots of things we just throw in our carts because they're staples, but we don't really think about how much they cost. makes it harder to keep track of what your total is going to be while you're in the store.

soon, you should be able to make a grocery list that really works (you know exactly what you're going to buy before you go and have a really good estimate of how much it will cost). always build in a small amount for the things you're likely to forget. it's also important to build some extra into your monthly budget for unusual or unexpected needs (like accidently volunteering to bake 60 cupcakes for the bake sale, or having the inlaws over for dinner, making a meal for a family with a new baby, etc.).

if you do decide to use your debit card instead of cash for groceries, you might keep an envelope anyway and mark it as if you HAD used cash. that'll help you stay in the budget and have a clear picture of what you're spending as you spend it.

[AuntNi]

Yes, my ATM card is in a file someplace, and I haven't used it for over a year. I take one envelope to the grocery store: the grocery envelope. I've never gone over, because I'm terrified of being humiliated at the checkout line. When it's going to be close, I keep track on my calculator as I'm going through the store. I know it sounds extreme, but otherwise, it's way too easy to go waaaaay overbudget. I found this out the hard way in July and August. My Chase cc was giving extra rewards for money spent on groceries and gas. I went over budget over $200 each month, just from swiping the cc rather than sticking to my cash envelopes. Yuck! I was so disgusted with myself.

With groceries going up up up all the time, you might have to adjust your grocery budget - I certainly have. But I feel good that it's my considered decision at the beginning of the month, rather than the "oh crap! we're $200 over" moment at the end of the month. When we use plastic, that happens every single time.

[Jilian]

I keep my debit card on me for gas purchases so I don't have to take the kids out of the car and go in to pay. I always keep an "unexpected but necessary" envelope on me too, and if by chance I go over on groceries the money comes out of that envelope so it doesn't mess up my budget. That envelope is for unexpected stuff that I don't budget for too

[phathui5]

If I go over the cash I have with me, I put things back.