Cash or Check

When I bought my condo last year, I made a list of all of my expenses (mortgage, utilities, insurance, phone, cable, tithing, etc) and compared it to my take-home pay. I remember at the time thinking "It will be amazing if I can keep my expenses under budget." Since then, I've had a raise, but the cost of cable also went up. Fortunately, if I go over a little bit, 10% of my money goes directly into savings, so I can dip in there a bit.

However, I don't want to get into the habit of living beyond my means, especially since I love to see money pile up in my savings account. I love paying cash for stuff and loathe making large credit card payments. In January I decided I should start writing down everything I buy, how much I pay, and the method of payment (cash, check, credit card). I was really good about it ...for the month of January. The next couple of months I kept up all right, since I usually pay with a credit card and kept all the receipts which allowed me to keep up on the records, but the last few months I have been a total slacker. My credit card bill last month was ridiculous. Again, I have the money in savings so I can use that to pay the bill, but that's not the point. The point is that I shouldn't have to do that. I want to be able to buy fun stuff with my savings, like a washer and dryer and new windows (what? Those are fun things to me)!

So, for an experiment and in another attempt to keep better track of my finances in the hope of keeping under budget, I've decided that for the month of July I will only pay for things I actually have the money for. This means no credit cards. I'll pay with a check or withdraw money from my checking account when I need to buy stuff. The one exception to the No Credit Card rule is buying gas for my car, since I prefer to get it at Sam's Club where it is marginally cheaper and you have to use the card. The idea is to look at the money in my wallet, then look at the thing I think I want to buy and honestly ask myself "How much do I want it? More than that mediterranean cruise which is my dream vacation?" Will it work? I hope so. At the end of it, I may even decide to get rid of my credit cards... maybe.

Also, my goal is to eat out only twice a week. Last month when I was feeling so crummy I spent waaaaaaaaay too much eating out 'cause I didn't feel like cooking. That accounts for the bulk of my over-spending at least for the last month. When I ate all the food in my fridge, I starting looking through my cupboards at my food storage (which currently may feed me for a month) and I realized I have some good stuff I can cook up. I need to get back into the habit and not be afraid to go to the grocery store. Sure I never get out of there without spending at least $80 bucks (all the people with kids are totally laughing at me right now) but I must remember that it's still better than what eating out two times a day costs.

So, there I have it: pay with cash or check for everything this month except gasoline, and eat out only twice a week. That's do-able.

Happy July everyone! Can you believe 2009 is already is half over? (I mean half... full? Half to left to be experienced to the fullest? Nevermind.)