Do Not Pay With Your Card

Working for an IT major that hires thousands of people every year has one major problem — the the savings are less. The pay is fine, may be much more than many hard working people out there. Thankfully, they do not spend like us. That habit of spending makes all the difference.

The problem is ours, we do not save money. Our savings habits are to be blamed. And the problems are so deep rooted that if you come and check our accounts at the third weekend of every month, you would see us broke. If the company decides to fire us, we are in trouble — no savings and there is debt!

I could see one thing common among us all. Binge spending. We go for the latest smartphone in the market. Or the fancy DSLR. After buying we inevitably pay with our cards. I believe there lies the problem.

I thought about this and tried to do a small experiment. For a certain period of time — “not paying with cards”! It does not matter how much money I spent, either at the restaurant or while buying a very expensive camera, I would pay the full amount in cash.

I could feel the money moving out of my hand while paying in cash. That was a real transaction. The brain responded to it and I was feeling it. This feeling of money being exchanged, I had never had while paying with card.

Though I got the statement after spending, i would usually see it and ignored it. It did not induce that feeling when real money slipped out of our hands. I believe that this way we will be more cautious while spending.

Check it yourself, may be you will feel the same and spend less and save more.