Today's topic that I am going to discuss is....the debit card. This little piece of plastic holds a lot more power then one might think. It's so easy to swipe a debit card when you do not have physical cash in your wallet.
$1.50 cup of Tim Horton's...swipe. $4.00 sandwich from Subway....swipe. $15 purchase at Wal-Mart...swipe.
Do you ever actually count how many times you use your debit in a month? Well, I did and let me tell you, the results were not pretty. I have unlimited debit usage on my card, therefore I can swipe to my heart's content and not be charged extra. That is where the problem begins. I used my debit 29 times in September, which averages out to more then once a day!
What did I purchase you may ask? It seems that I purchased a lot of food. No time to make coffee in the morning? I'll just buy a cup at school. The girls want to go out for lunch?...sure! Gelati after a long day at school?...sounds great! Before I knew it, small purchases ended up totaling a large number.
It's so easy to spend, spend, spend, until you've realized you might have spent too much. I knew it was going to be an adjustment to living on a budget, but I do not think I have grasped the concept yet.
A wise friend of mine, Tiffany H., takes out the money that she needs for the week, and only uses that. I think that is a great idea, because you can’t overspend. I think that is what I am going to try, and see what happens.
I'll have to put my debit and credit card in a safe spot, which is not my wallet, and only bring it out when necessary. That way, I can hope to get back on the wagon, because right now the wagon is dragging me in the dust.
So I think I'm going to cancel out September and call it a learning experience. I have learned from my spending mistakes, and now I will try to make a few changes to fix my problem.
We'll see how that goes...
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