Comments on The Personal Financier: The Problem of Accounting and Budgeting For Cash E...

@Kellyb - After reading your comment I remembered ...

2008-05-16T09:35:27.090-07:00

@Kellyb - After reading your comment I remembered a trip a friend of mine and I went on to Italy. In order to avoid calculating what each of us should pay during the day we'd just pay in turns and every night we'd list all the expenses and pay each other back. It wasn't much trouble and we had a lot more cash expenses. It's a cost/benefit decision I guess. I'll give it another go for the next couple of weeks and see how it works. Thanks. Dorian

I use debit card for anything I can and track the ...

2008-05-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

I use debit card for anything I can and track the receipts, but for when cash is needed I use the following method. I don't find it difficult to keep track of cash expenditures, but you do have to be diligent. I take out cash $100 at a time and note it in my checkbook. Every time I spend cash (or once a day or so), I write down what category I spent it in (entertainment, Dining Out, Household Items, Grocery, spending allowance, etc.)I make these category notes right within the checkbook entry notes/description space, and those noted numbers need to add up to $100 when I'm done - just like a mini checkbook itself. As long as you do it daily, its not too hard to remember where the money got spent. If $100 is too much, do $40 or whatever you can track easily. Then when I enter these numbers into my budget/spending plan, I know how much has gone to each category. This was a huge step for me when I first started trying to figure where my money went - most of my unexplained expenditures were "ATM", but where did it go? Tracking this way helped me see exactly where it went (in my case, mostly dining out and other frivolous purchases), and I was able to cut back by keeping track and knowing what my weaknesses were. Try it and Good luck!

@Canadian - I admire your diligence. Do you find s...

2008-05-13T09:22:57.669-07:00

@Canadian - I admire your diligence. Do you find spending cash harder than paying with credit cards?

I do #4. I keep my receipts and when I get home I ...

2008-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I do #4. I keep my receipts and when I get home I write the amounts in the proper category. It's not much trouble -- I don't often have more than 1-2 receipts per day.

If they don't give me my receipt, I ask for it. If I'm spending in a way that doesn't normally have receipts (for example, a garage sale or farmer's farmer) I just keep track mentally until I get home.