With a debit card being my main mode for any purchase (including $1 purchases, which seems silly since it’s only $1) I have gotten used to not carrying around cash for smaller purchases. However, part of my challenge has involved a weekly $20 cash budget. I chose cash because I know I am likely to spend more money if I continue to use my debit card. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of debit cards, especially the SmarterBank® Visa® Debit Card* where a percentage of my total purchase goes towards my student loan, but sometimes with the readily available funds in my checking account, it’s too easy to place one more thing in that shopping cart. A $5 purchase has the ability to turn into a $20 purchase and that $20 may lead to a $30 purchase. I’ve been there, mostly because I know I have the money on my debit card, so why not? At that point, you have to start asking yourself: are all these extra things necessary or should I just buy what I originally came for?
Without realizing it, the $20 is helping keep a limit on what I buy. For example, say it’s getting toward the end of a week and I’ve decided to go to Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee instead of making hot coffee at home. A medium iced coffee is under $3 and luckily I have $3 remaining in my wallet. Keeping with my rule—which is not paying for anything with a debit card if it costs less than $10—I use this $3 in cash to pay for my iced coffee. However, there is no extra money for a bagel and cream cheese, meaning I don’t buy them. That keeps my wallet fuller (and possibly waistline trimmer). Plus, the loose change given back after my iced coffee purchase goes into the Student Loan Repayment Fund Jar.
If this scenario were to take place a few months back, I would have no cash and end up buying that bagel and cream cheese along with my coffee using my debit card. Writing this all down now, it seems more complicated than it is, but it’s little things like this that keep the Jar growing and will help me pay down my loan debt faster.
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