Keeping track of ATM pulls

**riaketty** · 07-20-2010, 11:16 AM

Hi everyone! Been a reader for a long time and finally decided to register.

We are cash-only, with an ATM card, not a debit card. So when we grocery shop, etc, we use cash that's pulled from the ATM.

That's our leak, big-time. We pull 40, spend 35, and the extra 5 disappears.

DH and I are horrible about writing things down. Do I just need to buckle down and to this, or what? Any other ideas? I need to plug this huge leak!

**frugalwarrior2** · 07-20-2010, 11:42 AM

Dh doesn't do any shopping so i took his. Sounds controlling but being handed a fistfull kinda sent me over the edge. I borrowed his because I "lost" mine. 7 years ago. He has a mobil cc to get gas,coffee occasionally.I pay weekly online. So no cash in hand.

As far as people w/ any money concept goes. -Put your banking online. Check it every night. log the ATM/DEBIT that way. So no month goes by where you are shaky about what you have. Also keep a cushion is the checking of $200. DO NOT connect your bank acct. to your savings. TOO easy to get in trouble (garage sale fiend here.)
If your w/ a credit union sign up for overdraft but understand mistake/true snafu's only. It is a $25. charge for overdrafts but may save more fees from a bounced check. Forgot to say i have not paid an ATM/DEbit fee in years. Hope any of this helps.

**ansley** · 07-20-2010, 11:55 AM

Could you use envelopes to store the extra? Take blank envelopes and put grocery or etc on it and put the $5 you didn't use in there for the next grocery trip. Then only pull out $30 next time to add to the $5. That is just an ex using your #s.

We use a debit card and I have started checking what we actually bought. About half of it was impulse buying. I have started a price book so that I have an idea how much we would need for only what is on the list. That should help with the impulse buying, I hope.

DH refuses to use cash for gas. I get him to give me his receipts and put them in the gas envelope. Maybe you could do that with the ATM receipts.

**monkeywrangler71** · 07-20-2010, 12:15 PM

Keep all your atm receipts, store receipts and leftover change together in an envelope. Once a week go through the envelope and make sure the receipts and change add up to the total withdrawn. The receipts will tell you where it's going.

If I use cash - which is rare because I can't hang on to it - I make sure that my change gets emptied into my cash jar at home at the end of the day. That way it doesn't just float out of my purse to wherever it is that cash disappears to.

**Mom2-3** · 07-20-2010, 12:36 PM

What about using the envelope system and putting your receipts from your purchases in the envelopes? That way your receipts and your cash should always equal your total for that category.

**PlainCash4** · 07-20-2010, 12:54 PM

i would pull out a bigger amount that you can write down. I usually pull out between 100-200 at a time, and put the rest in a stash box at home. That way i dont have to go to the ATM as much. I just see how far i can stretch the big amount. I found it much easier. Also i have a lock on my stash box, and i make myself lock and unlock it each time i pull a $20 out.

**MaryCarney** · 07-20-2010, 01:01 PM

I have a basket right by the front door for reciepts - it's a habit now to put them in there - then when I'm watching TV at night, I make sure they get recorded.

**riaketty** · 07-20-2010, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by PlainCash4

i would pull out a bigger amount that you can write down. I usually pull out between 100-200 at a time, and put the rest in a stash box at home. That way i dont have to go to the ATM as much. I just see how far i can stretch the big amount. I found it much easier. Also i have a lock on my stash box, and i make myself lock and unlock it each time i pull a $20 out.

That's actually something I haven't thought about! And it seems so simple, hah.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, we'll see where the leak money is going!

**NikoSan999** · 07-20-2010, 02:53 PM

Why not just carry a check register and consider the w/d a check. Meaning wouldn't it just be easier to write it down as soon as w/d. No mistakes that way.
But what I think the poster is getting at is with 40 withdrawals and $5 a whack extra each time...she's taking $200 a month EXTRA out of the account that dosen't need to be taken out and it's getting blown.
Only way to not blow it is to take out $5 less or get control over spending.

**MaryCarney** · 07-20-2010, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by NikoSan999

Why not just carry a check register and consider the w/d a check. Meaning wouldn't it just be easier to write it down as soon as w/d. No mistakes that way.
But what I think the poster is getting at is with 40 withdrawals and $5 a whack extra each time...she's taking $200 a month EXTRA out of the account that dosen't need to be taken out and it's getting blown.
Only way to not blow it is to take out $5 less or get control over spending.

The problem is most ATMs only give out 10s and 20s. I wish they'd give EXACTLY what you want - I'd change banks for that.

**NikoSan999** · 07-20-2010, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by MaryCarney

The problem is most ATMs only give out 10s and 20s. I wish they'd give EXACTLY what you want - I'd change banks for that.

Ahhhh...didn't know that...see that's why I don't use debit or ATM's.
Could seriously try to make do with $5 less then. $20 and a $10. Poster wanting to cut back anyway. Be a start.

**MaryCarney** · 07-20-2010, 06:30 PM

I guess my take is that with my debit card, I have a record of exactly what is spent, no extras floating around, waiting to disappear into the stratosphere.

**greekislandgirl** · 07-20-2010, 06:43 PM

We also do the ATM cash thing only. I record all of our expenses every night on our weekly budget tracking sheet and don't worry at all about where the cash itself happens to be. Since I know what all the actual expenses are, the cash is where it is supposed to be by default I guess. I find it much easier to keep track of the fact that I spent 3.50 on coffee today than that I took out 20.00 of which I spent 3.50 and now I have 16.50 left... that's too hard to keep track of. As long as I know what I spent, and what I have budgeted for the week based on my husband's salary, it seems to work out.

The only time when this goes out the window is when foreign currency exchange is involved. My husband is leaving the country tomorrow and will be using four (and potentially five) DIFFERENT foreign currencies in 8 days. I think in this particular case we will just wait until the end of his trip and look at the bank statement and look at what is left and do our best to figure it all out.