LexChoice Finance

Financial News and Information

Can you really save by using cash?

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Many, many year ago before credit cards were invented people paid for everything with cash or a barter system. I know for most of us it’s hard to imagine not being able to conveniently whip out the plastic at the grocery store, gas station, movies and even fast food restaurants.

For some of us this still remains true. My dad still only carries cash to pay for many common things such as those mentioned above. Even the president of the company where I am employed told me he still only uses cash for most common purchases. I have gotten so used to using a credit card to pay for things it’s hard to imagine life without them.

What would life be without credit cards? So many times I have heard that you can save so much money by using a cash only system. It hurts so much more to pay for something with cash than with a credit card. I’m still not completely convinced this is true for me, but recently I have thought about something that does temp to to test the cash only system.

Let’s assume I went to the grocery store and only took $80 cash to pay for my groceries. I left my wallet at home with my credit cards hidden away to prevent any possible usage. I would think twice about buying those Twinkies for $2, after all that’s 2.5% of my weekly grocery budget! On the other hand if I had a credit card I basically have a $10,000 + limit so buying something unnecessary would be much easier. So using an all cash system in this case would definitely help save money.

Another great example of where I could see an all cash system being successful in our life is with the eating out budget. Sometimes we spend over $400 per month eating out. I know we could easily make it on $200 and put an additional $200 per month in our savings account. If we only brought $20 cash with us for dinner it would be much easier to skip dessert or the appetizer that we don’t really need anyway.

I think an all cash system could definitely save our family money. However, because we have used the “pay your credit card off every month” system for so long I think it will be very difficult to get used to destroying our credit cards. Maybe I will have to create a happy medium to ween ourselves off our addiction!

Watch the supermarket scanners you might be wasting money

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If you’ve ever been to any store and purchased a single item and had it ring up a different amount than what the sign above it said you know exactly what I mean. Even though these incidents could be completely accidental on the store’s part, it’s still a problem you need to be aware of the problem so you can get it corrected.

At first thought you might not think it’s worth your time to bring it to the attention of the store clerk that you were overcharged $0.50 for a 12 pack of soda, especially if you don’t realize it until you get back to your car. However, on second thought what if you purchase 100 items from the store and are overcharged $0.50 on 10 of them? This still might not be enough for most people to go back into the store and plead their case, but for some it’s well worth the $5.00, especially if you think about $5.00 per week for the rest of your life.

Another thing to watch for is double scanning of items. Remember the cashiers are only human and mistakes will happen. It’s very easy for an item to get double scanned and you will be charged twice for the item. An easy way to resolve this problem is to keep an eye on the cash register while the items are being scanned instead of reading that magazine at the checkout stand.

Treat your shopping experience like you would your job. Make a conscious effort to pay attention to prices and make sure you are paying what the sign says. Stay alert at the checkout stand and keep an eye on the cash register. It’s your money watch it and you could save yourself quite a bit!

Money Talks

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Money Talks
Do you listen?

The phrase “Money Talks” is pretty common in our society. ACDC the famous rock band from the seventies wrote a song Money Talks, there was a movie that was produced in 1997 with the title Money Talks, a book entitled Money Talks: How to Make a Million as a Speaker, as well as a top rated Canadian business show with the keyword title. And according to the Oxford English Dictionary the first use of the expression “money talks” was in the Saturday Evening Post in 1903. Since then, according to the Dictionary of American Slang, whenever people use that expression what they are really saying is that wealth is power and money buys everything. Does money really talk? Do you listen? What should you do with what it’s saying? [Read more…]