How to make your cash last by ditching the debit card

For most of us it will be pay day around now. And for those of us who have been penniless for the last couple of days there is an instant urge to go out and start spending all over again.

Well put a hold on it just for a second and think about handling your money in a slightly more mature way.

The majority of people know that drawing up a budget is fairly straight forward, using your total income minus bills to give you a figure of money that is available to you over the month.

There are quite often issues with sticking to this amount of money. It could be down to emergencies or unexpected bills but there is one issue that many people will overlook.

The issue that affects peoples budgets without them realising is that they always have access to their money. The debit card has made transactions much easier but it may have made us forget about the actual value of money.

When physical cash is removed from the norm people can spend more than they realise relatively easily and it is only at the end of the month that they realise how much they have managed to spend.

To get rid of your debit card seems like a fairly rash decision and it can definitely help you out in some situations but we should try and reduce the amount that we use our cards. If you have a budget of £40 for the week then take this out at the start of the week and leave your cards at home.

Through this simple practice you will have a much better idea of how much money you have and more importantly how much you are spending. Give it a go for a month and see if  you stick to your budget a bit more easily, I think that you will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome, just don’t go and blow it all the following month.

Do you have any tips for saving money? Do you use a budget and if so do you stick to any rules to ensure you remain on target? Let us know in the comments section.

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