GEORGIE - Supermarket Stinge!!

Researchers at two US universities are recommending shoppers use cash instead of credit cards in Supermarkets - to ensure they end up with the right type of food in their trolley. It's an idea I am not completely alien to - that parting with actual paper cash as opposed to signing the credit card slip makes you more aware what you are spending and according to researchers at Cornell and the University of Buffalo you are more thrifty if you actually see the cash leave your wallet.

Totally, totally agree with the money thing. Cards have always seemed like free money to me (that's how I got into debt in the first place) and now I no longer have credit cards I also no longer have debt. It works for me. I know that on the very rare occasion I have had to pay for an item of clothing or some shoes in cash I have been shocked at how hard it is to hand over notes instead of just signing that paper strip.

What confuses me though, is the idea that you become more responsible with your eating habits if you pay by cash. The cheap stuff at the supermarket is the crap stuff!! ESPECIALLY in America - it's expensive to eat fresh there - (my weekly supermarket bill for me and Eduardo used to be about $300 of all fresh food as a minimum - and that was before you added wine.) So - doesn't it follow that if you are looking at the colour of you money as you part with it I am surprised it doesn't equal getting the best bargain whatever you eat? Apparently not - it works the other way - if you ARE looking at the amount of money you are spending then you need to make it worthwhile - i.e. choosing the healthy stuff and knowing you will be eating healthily makes it easier to part with your hard earned cash. The researchers say that actually - buying junk food in the supermarket is an impulsive act - and shoppers don't feel the pain of parting with cash for crap food when they pay by card.

The article I read (linked below) reminded me of when Rosie and I lived in Norwich and were the poorest we have ever been. We used to literally walk around the supermarket with a calculator, working out what to buy for a week without going a penny over our budget. I laugh now at the days when we used to sit down on the 2nd of the month and work out out finances and realise we had £34.65 for the whole month as beer money! It did make us brilliantly frugal though - we planned our meals, ate packed lunches and relied on each other to make sure we ate well and spent well. It's a good test - and something I could do with a little more now.

So - maybe I will try the cash thing. Or of course, there is another alternative... just a thought - buy your food online - then you certainly don't get tempted by the spoils of naughty food the supermarket has to offer as you walk around!

Daily Mail Article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1321776/How-stay-Pay-cash-avoid-using-cards.html