But Bill Door was apparently arguing that payment method was irrelevant, because people of discipline such as himself simply never bought anything impulsively or unnecessarily, at all.
See, this is what happens when we forget how to use cash.
$20 in pocket, $3 drink, leaves $17, not $18. Keep that up, and next thing you know, you’ll be out of money. 
How are you getting all this cash? Are you withdrawing it all from the bank when you get paid or just using an ATM whenever you feel like it?
The former seems like it could help over spenders. “This is all the spending money I have until next payday.” If it’s the latter, though, it seems like you’re just fooling yourself. If that new doodad you want costs $120 and you’ve only got $100 on you, there’s nothing really stopping you from visiting another ATM at the store to stock up.
But food and drinks are necessary. The payment method is irrelevant. I could walk out the door with $1000 in my pocket and spend no more than if I had $10. I can understand the impulse to spend, but can’t really fathom it.
If you told someone they could save 25% on wine by buying it by the case, and they explained that they couldn’t, because if they bought a case of wine they’d drink it all in the next 48 hours and miss three days of work, so a bottle a day was cheaper, you might nod, but you really wouldn’t understand it. People’s compulsions are their own.
Restaurant meals are not necessary. Wine is not necessary, no matter how it is purchased. No entertainment spending of any kind is ever necessary. But most people like to allow for some unnecessary–even impulsive–things in life.
Say you need a new coffee pot. You have $100 in cash on you. You can spend your cash on the $89 coffee maker, or break out the card to get the $129 coffeepot that has all the new whizbang bells and whistles.
It makes sense to me that you might be less inclined to shell out extra for the fancy appliance when you’re cash-strapped. It’s not like “ooh, this credit card means I can buy enough food for an army” when you’re eating alone at Mcdonald’s. It IS just a matter of discipline, but tricks like this are exactly HOW many of us obtain that self-discipline in the first place.
D’oh! :smack:
I can confidently say that I have never bought anything “impulsively or unnecessarily” that cost more than the amount of cash I routinely carry in my pocket, which is at lest $100. So the exposure to such an impulsive purchase is not influenced by my preference for cash or credit. I carry that much in case, being prudent, I ever need it. I never do, but it’s like insurance.
Yes, there are people disciplined enough that they do not make hundred dollar purchases impulsively. I wonder if I’m almost out of coffeemakers. I better pick up a couple, just in case.
It’s about the benefits of using cash vs. credit as a means of controlling your own spending. As I said in my earlier post, if you have no problem with overspending, then you might as well use whatever gives you the most rewards points or cash back or whatever. But for the literally millions of people who have trouble controlling their spending, and the 38% of all U.S. households carrying credit card debt, then cash only is one way to help control those impulses.
On the bigger pot: one huge problem with credit cards is that they give you a pot that is bigger than the amount of money you have on hand. If you have $500 in the bank, then that’s all you have to spend in cash, even if you use a debit card or keep going to the ATM. But if you have $500 in the bank plus a credit card with a $1,000 limit, then you have a $1,500 pot, even though you don’t really have that much money. Maybe everyone on the Dope is able to understand the role of credit, but I know plenty of people both online and IRL who have a hard time differentiating, when it’s so easy to just swipe the card or type the number into a website. I know because I have been there before. I think people like the OP who are taking positive steps to change their psychological outlook and fix their spending issues are to be commended, not criticized for having one of the most common problems around.
jtur88 - The last time we changed the clocks, I had to move the hands forward on 27 watches. I’m working very hard on staying within budget, but I still think about new watches I’d like to have. No one is saying that disciplined people for whom spending is not a problem don’t exist, but this thread is not about them.
Hey, now my comment sounds stupid because you edited out your watch comment! OTOH, I have zero coffee makers since I don’t drink coffee.
I like to always have some cash on me, like around $20.
And I always make sure to have cash when going out someplace where a bill is going to be split. That’s always a total shit show with a pile of cards. I just drop my cash on the table and walk away.
A few weeks ago I was in a major retailer and couldn’t use the self checkout because they all had signs on them “credit card only/no cash, checks”. Seemed really weird to me. Then a week later I was there and the signs were gone, but the machine wouldn’t give me my change until the kid they had observing the area came over and punched a code into it. Then after about a minute of waiting it spat out the 5 and 4 ones it owed me. When he was futzing with the machine, I noticed and option in the menu to set it to credit card only mode…
Just bought dinner for the week which came up to $11.47 and I gave the cashier $12.00.
I’m winning:)
The wine purchase was an analogy. Using credit cards makes it so easy to track and control spending that choosing not to use them handicaps you severely. Now, you might have some pathology, like the alcoholic who can’t have liquor without drinking it, or the compulsive gambler standing in a pile of scratch offs, but if you can’t have a credit card in your possession without overspending, you’ve got money problems that likely won’t be solved by not carrying a credit card.
double post
What the hell are you eating that only amounts to 12 bucks for the entire week?
Bought some baguette rolls and lunch meat and meatballs to put on those rolls along with some chicken parm.
59 cents a meal. Frugal.
You are indeed. If people give you crap for your good idea, here is a link.
I’m naturally cheap, so I use a cashback card, but if you have a tendency to overspend your method is good.
When airlines accepted cash, the flight attendants were always running up and down the aisles to get change for purchases. My observation is that credit card only transactions are much faster, and you don’t have to deal with cash for change or cash from purchases.
My automated carwash is credit card only now. I think improved internet speeds have sped up credit card transactions to be faster than cash ones, especially if the cash payer fumbles for coins. Self checkout at the grocery takes cash or credit, but credit is usually faster.
It really doesn’t. I have a debit card, but I typically use it only for online purchases. Nearly all of my day-to-day purchases are done with cash. I don’t have any problem keeping track of my spending. Maybe you need a credit card in order to keep track of your spending, but not everybody needs that particular crutch.