Family Goes Cash-Only, Too Exhausted to Spend As Much

Filed in archive Buying Stuff on August 26, 2008

© stopnlook

Good Morning America had an interesting little feature the other day. They asked a family - Mom, Dad, baby - to go without using any sort of money cards for a month - no credit, no debit, not even checks. Here's the story and video.

How'd they do? They say they saved $1800, spending 24% less than they normally would if they had access to their cards. According to my calculations, that means they would normally spend around $7500 per month and during the test month they spent $5700. That's a lot either way, so I'm guessing they were allowed to send in their mortgage payment by check - can you imagine sending a bundle of cash fedex?

It's not surprising that they spent less, because making a purchase was more of a hassle than it would've been otherwise. Filling up the gas tank meant standing in line to pay, other times they simply didn't have the cash on hand to buy what they wanted so they just said "Forget it."

By the end of the story, the moral was that not using credit helped them to buy only what they really needed instead of impulse buys. They say they're going to stick with it and only use a credit card in an emergency.

I hope Good Morning America revisits them in a few months to see if they've really done it. I'm guessing they'll be back on the cards for convenience sake. But I'd also guess that they'll continue to curb their spending, at least in the short term, as they spend more time thinking about each purchase. Whether you are interested in swearing off credit or not, this could be a good exercise in learning to spend more thoughtfully.