We all have clear the importance of savings. However, from there to save every month there is a rather broad stretch. More than half of the Spaniards do not exceed 50 euros of savings per month and not because they do not want, but because they cannot or do not know how to do it. To put a solution, finance expert David Delisle explains his method to save … without using the card.
A David Delisle, author of the book The Golden Quest: Your Journey to a Rich Life (‘The search for gold: your journey to a rich life’), which shared his experience through this strategy, which allowed him to reduce his monthly expenses in just 30 days.
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Leave the card and pay with tickets helps to question each expense and to create more conscious financial habits, according to David Delisle
As shared with the British portal of Best Lifethe experiment was not free of challenges, especially for the facilities offered by cards. Delisle acknowledged that paying in cash was “a headache” due to the discomfort of handling tickets and coins.
Anyway, the expert emphasizes that this little discomfort has been the key to transforming their relationship with money. “The act of telling bills and receiving change made purchases less automatic and more reflective.” In addition, observing how physical money disappeared from its portfolio generated a visual impact that card transactions did not offer.
David Delisle discovered that the usual use of cards allowed him to spend without a clear perception of real money that was allocated to each purchase. Access to plastic, in addition, frequently led to consuming products or services that were not necessary.
“To count tickets and receive change made purchases less automatic and more reflective”
Of course, the plan did not consist of completely eliminating the credit card, since some payments must necessarily be done digital. Even so, every time he could, he chose the cash for a period of 30 days.
However, the result of stop using cards for a month was very positive for David. And, with this change, the expert managed to change his mind when making unplanned purchases and, therefore, he managed to reduce his expenses: “I was surprised by the amount of things in which I spent money without fixed direction and without realizing it.”
The use of cards creates the mirage that spending does not have an immediate cost. Instead, paying in cash makes each transaction tangible and visible. “The cash makes those purchases a bit more difficult and gives you a little more time to reflect on your decision,” said Delisle. That extra time helped him question several times if he really needed what he was about to buy.
With this experience, Delisle says that he has learned to incorporate the use of cash whenever possible as a tool to promote greater financial awareness. “Just starting is the most difficult,” he recommended for those who want to try a similar challenge. “After a few days, it becomes a habit and you begin to see how your expenses change,” he concludes.
Another trick among the many to save money is to monitor what the salary is going. You have to get a day when we feel to review all our expenses. Only then can we see those who have been able to be a whim and we can save it for other months. Then, within the expenses that are daily you have to do a study to see what we can save. Check how many subscriptions we have, for example, and the price of each one, see the fixed invoices of light and gas and check rates we should do it once a year to not pay more than the account.