People didn’t always use banks and credit cards. A few generations back people kept money nearby where it might be closer, but not too easy to spend. My step-grandfather was born in 1907 and he used to take wads of bills and bury them in coffee cans to stockpile money. Every once in a while he’d forget where one was buried. He would find it later and drive down to the bank to redeem a wad of moldy dollar bills. My grandmother used to keep what she referred to as “mad money” stashed in various places around the house, her pocket-book, a cigar box, in a drawer. These were little amounts of cash for unexpected things like soda pops or a round of shanghai rummy. Have you ever noticed how older people always seem to have money when they need it?
When you think about it, it makes good sense. If you hide small amounts of money in different places it has the benefit of not being as readily available as your checking account, for example, which can be accessed with the ubiquitous debit card. If you’re at a bar haemorrhaging ones and fives you would be hard-pressed to spend the emergency twenty dollar bill you have hidden in your bible. It doesn’t have to be hidden in the literal sense, just make some of your cash harder to spend.
- Open a separate checking or savings account …or two or three. Put the corresponding debit cards in a filing cabinet. Deposit a percentage of your income in here and watch it grow simply because it’s more difficult to spend.
- Get a Paypal account. Free. 1.5% cash back if you use the check card, and 3% if you let the funds collect. Paypal accounts are easy to access, but if you’re like me, you’ll never use it.
- Hide your singles. Whenever I get a couple ones I hide them somewhere where I’ll find them later unexpectedly. Nothing is better than putting on a jacket you haven’t worn since last winter and finding a couple bucks stuffed in one of the pockets. Eventually you’ll amass a network of hidey holes you can raid if you start to run dry.
Squirrels have the right idea. They work hard through the fall gathering and hiding acorns for when they’re hungry during leaner times. Sometimes forgotten acorns grow into mighty oaks. It’s the same with money if you can keep yourself from spending all of it.