Using Cash

As a rule, I prefer to use my debit card over using cash. It is easier to track expenditures. However, I can get receipts, I do get receipts, and I look at those receipts anyway, so using cash should not be a huge deal for me. I am now considering moving some of my purchases to cash. Possibly groceries, likely restaurants, fast food. Figure out what I can spend each month and put it in an envelope. An easy way to track this money is to take it out and immediately categorize it "groceries" or whatever it is on Mint.com.

This is what LearnVest advises in this photo essay. There are a couple of other things in that list that I want to pay attention to that will be the subject of other articles.

Oh, by the way, LearnVest is similar to Mint, an accounting online tool. It is specifically aimed at women but of course can be used by anyone.  I opened an account there to try it out and I found one thing helpful: if you have some sort of account that is not included in their list, you can add it yourself and upload transactions manually. You can't do this in Mint: If the account is not working for some reason that you can't fix, you can't force it. However, Mint does have a great many more accounts on their list and I have become very comfortable there, so I continue to use it.