I am not really liking it (said petulently) If you could see me now my bottom lip is slightly protuding in a pout. The ease of the plastic has been replaced my the stifling constraint of wondering if one has enough cash for purchases. Ehh ...
My money situation became slightly muddled in that my mother gave me $30 cash (to pay be back for a $22 comforter for my son's birthday gift and $7 toward a sham to match). I used $20 of that to purchase an $18 lamp for my daughters' bedroom re-do. Target had great bedding items on clearance and the girls are having their room repainted. They purchased really colorful (striped and polka-dots) comforters/shams for $20.38 pretax at Target. I did cover the $5 tax on their bedding. All in all that purchase of $64.25 got the two bedding sets (they gave me $40) and a really cool floor lamp. As far as I'm concerned the big ticket items for their reno are done. That didn't throw me, the following did.
I alluded to family hooplah and drama last week. It was over gossip and half-truths and for whatever reason, it isn't really getting to me. I am finding personal satisfaction in standing my ground and staying out of situations I didn't really create. ANYHOW, that said, DH has resigned from the second job of managing my father's apartment buildings. He has returned keys to all the apartments (via my brother) and I have directed the two calls we've had this past week from the tenants back to my father.
The benefit to this resignation is that we (my kids and I) have had him all weekend with no phone calls, no stress, no working around showings or fixings of leaky toilets. We had a relaxed and generally happier DH/father. We played Wii, we went to the park and played tennis for two hours yesterday, we went to Mass in one car and then travelled as a family to Target and Home Depot for last minute school items that we didn't pick up. I had to break my $50 because I was $3 short at Home Depot. The flash drive wasn't on sale for $9.99 as the day prior, rather it was $12.99 - using all of the money I brought with me. I now have $46 left of my $50. I will also have to spend about $8 for the skate party today for the kids, but I did find coupons for free admission for birthday child (my oldest son is 8 today), and get one free for my two girls.
Friday is the day that I return to the bank to replenish my cash stash. I am so proactive that I have my withdrawal slip ready and waiting!
All in all, the Living on Cash is going well. I am not happy that I needed to break into my $50 bill, but under normal weeks I won't have to buy soccer cleats, flash drives, plus shaving items for my daughters who are heading into teen-age hood. And not to mention the handy dandy scrublet bearing Loreal 360 on the Go (though it rang up as $6.99 but the shelf price was $4.99) and I had 2-$1.00 off coupons.
In my next post, I'll share the random thoughts of Cash King on this experiment.
Cash Queen: Further Observations about living on Cash
August 23rd, 2010 at 02:39 pm
August 23rd, 2010 at 03:03 pm 1282575796
Happy birthday to your son!
August 23rd, 2010 at 03:11 pm 1282576310
The $50 was in the alloted $250 cash for the week. When I withdrew the funds, I got ten-$20s and 1-$50, thinking I would be less likely to spend the big bill and possibly have money left over. I should have known that is was not *the* week to not expect the unexpected (given back to school items that I knew we needed to pick up)
August 23rd, 2010 at 04:48 pm 1282582094
August 23rd, 2010 at 04:55 pm 1282582554
I *am* hopeful that this system will work. It is just a bit strange - conforming to spending only the cash I have, versus knowing what the balance in the checkbook is.
August 24th, 2010 at 12:19 am 1282609171