Happy & Healthy
WHY CASH IS BETTER THAN YOUR CARD
by Kalinka Hählen
Tomorrow is Black Friday and the balance in my bank account resembles the small prices in the bargain rack. Ergo: no major discounts to be had! I find it quite disastrous: the highest discounts of the year and no money to save yourself a lot of money, no money to not be a thief of your own wallet!
Pushed by the one-day urgency of various bargains, I frustratedly realize that my money is insufficient for a shopping frenzy, let alone for everything that needs to be paid for in December. It is invariably in December that I end up with a huge chunk of month left at the end of my money (thanks Loesje, for this adequate description of the current situation). And my debit card is to blame for everything.
Since contactless payment – a payment method that I initially approached with reluctance, always a bit afraid that the decimal point in an amount of two euros fifty would secretly and unseen hop two places to the right – I seem to be spending more money than ever. That may not be the case, but by just waving a card you feel no payment pain anymore, which leads to surprising discoveries when reviewing your statement. Three tens for a lunch at Dignita? Really? A ‘thing’ at H&M for seven euros ninety-nine? What? And did you really spend six bucks a day on coffee? You barely registered that.
Feeling payment pain, like the one that hits you hard when you pay with cash and crinkling bills, seems to be instrumental for a spending pattern that stays within limits. Handing over cash hurts the most, card payments have less impact, and contactless payments do almost nothing, as you only need to wave and no PIN is required anymore. Research by business information provider Dun & Bradstreet shows that people who pay with a card instead of cash spend an average of 18 to 20% more money. That's not bad. How come no pain?
“Oh. No. The end of my money was already in sight.”
Anyone wanting to survive the holidays without red numbers would do well to roam the country with a pouch full of cash. Not only do you have a better insight into your spending, making it less easy to spend a few euros over your gift budget, but the bottom of your pouch is also really the bloody limit. Moreover, it seems that handing over cash makes you happier with your purchases – like that velvet jacket that we absolutely must have after reading Renske's blog : pain leads to commitment, you have to be able to justify to yourself why this is such a fantastic buy. Handing over cash thus works a bit like reflection: is this really worth that crinkling, fresh hundred?
Such reflection is something I could use – and many like me, I have the idea. I'm going to withdraw some old-fashioned cash to smash in the city. Oh. No. The end of my money was already in sight. Best wishes for my financial future.
