Take the lessons you’ve learned, for better or worse, from the previous two exercises, and apply them toward a thirty-day period of time. Using cash for an entire month is going to require discipline, particularly if you’re used to swiping your card for every little thing. It will also force you to consider the repercussions of each purchase from a need versus want standpoint: if you eat leftover pasta in your fridge for dinner instead of buying Chipotle, then you have more money for the next day, and the next—so what’s more important to you? You also might technically run out of money in the month, and it’ll be your choice to either take more money out (hey, I’m not judging you) or survive in a no-spend land for the remainder of the thirty days.
That’s why this type of challenge is so effective: cards are convenient, but the downside is that purchases don’t exactly feel “real,” and it’s very easy to spend your money on things that aren’t necessary in a given moment, or things that cost a bit more than you would’ve planned. You can look at your bank statement later on, but by that point the damage is already done. With cash you don’t have that luxury, which means you have to be pretty diligent about the way you spend and show restraint. It might also directly impact the way you socialize, considering most of us spend money (a lot of it!) hanging out with friends and family members—date nights, weekend trips, seeing a new play, happy hour, grabbing a taxi—so plan on giving the people you usually spend time with a heads-up that your month may look a little different than normal. Aka, you’ll need to find cheaper or free options.
Keep in mind that the point of cash-only exercises isn’t to live an all-cash lifestyle (unless you want to, but it’s probably fairly unrealistic). It’s to help get your spending back on track and better align your budget to your actual spending habits or lifestyle.