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Used to think cash stuffing was dumb but my bank proved me wrong
I was all about credit card rewards until my bank charged me $35 for going $2 over my checking limit. Started cash stuffing for groceries and gas last month, saved $60 just by not buying random snacks at checkout. Anyone else find a weird way that actually made budgeting click for them?
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pat78114d ago
...and you know, I'm the exact person who learned that lesson the hard way too. I lost a whole envelope of "emergency fund" cash once because I put it in an old coat pocket and then donated the coat to Goodwill. That $60 you saved from not buying snacks is real though, but I think the real trick is that cash just makes you feel the loss more than tapping a card. Doesn't mean the system is perfect, just that sometimes you have to trick your own brain into behaving.
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amy_craig2814d ago
Nah I still think cash stuffing is dumb. You're basically paying in inconvenience to avoid a $35 fee that could've been avoided with a simple alert on your phone. My bank texts me when I hit $50. No way I'm carrying around envelopes like it's 1985. The $60 you saved sounds more like you stopped impulse buying, not because the cash method magically worked. A good budget app does the same thing without the hassle of having exact change for everything.
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kim_ramirez314d ago
My friend Sarah tried the envelope thing last year and ended up getting her wallet stolen at Target with $340 cash in it. All her grocery money for two weeks, gone. No way to get it back either. She switched back to cards after that and just uses the EveryDollar app now. Works way better for her and she can actually track where the money went without losing it to a pickpocket.
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