I never realized people have so little self control to the extent that you have to freeze a card in ice to stop spending.

Another case of extremism because people can't control their own habits and blame credit cards.

Look, having credit cards on you doesn't mean you have to buy everything in sight, and if you have a personality like that, even having cash on you isn't a smart idea.

On the other hand, if you are a responsible adult, you can understand that credit cards aren't magic money and they can be used responsibly and in MANY CASES are MUCH BETTER TO CARRY THAN CASH.

You lose cash, its gone forever. You lose your credit card, its covered. You don't get money back on cash purchases. Etc, etc. Please consumerist, stop reporting these bogus stories of irresponsible people turning their lives around because they don't understand what it is to manage their finances.

This family didn't really "save" $1800. They just didn't spend money they didn't have, which they should have been doing all along.

Saving 1800 per month means you have to have 1800 per month. They said they saved 24%, which was 1800. That means they were spending 7500 per month before, which is 90k per year. I wish i was so fortunate to have 90k to blow on whatever and then be psyched when i can somehow cut that down to only 68400. commendable.

Frozen in a glass of water... did the glass break? : )

And what thefastest said... and DashTheHand.

I can understand many people are not responsible with credit cards. Having multiple credit cards should be a warning sign. It seems the people in the article had no idea of a budget, or even making sure they spent less than they bring in per month. Even without having a clear budget, the easiest way to "not spend money" is spend less than you bring in! For the most part, large "luxury" purchases should wait until you have the money, not put on a credit card where you pay 10% to 25% more than the purchase price just to have it right away.

Wait a minute... they have $1800 to blow on crap every month? And that's $1800 reflects only a 24% savings? Are they counting their mortgage and other fixed expenses? If I saved $1800 per month, it'd mean that I didn't spend any money, ever.

Wow - way to blame the OP. These people had issues with spending on credit cards - an issue MANY people have (oh my gosh, people are human and have weaknesses!) and they figured out a way to help restrain and retrain themselves and ended up saving a LOT of money from what they were previously spending. I say applaud them for getting themselves on the right track and figuring out a method that works for them and might work for others too.

They are no longer putting themselves into more debt and are keeping their spending within what they have. Good for them. If they inspire just one other couple to relook at their spending habits, their story will have been worth being told.

I am not sure if the savings was their total expenditures, i.e. including mortgage, car payments etc, or is it just their daily spending. But, regardless of that, they normally spent $7500 a month, and that month they spent $5700. Most people do not make that much money in a month, yet alone have enough of that left over to spend that much. So, even if everyone could save 24%, that 24% could be significantly less than the $1800 touted in the article.

More accurately: "Family learns to control impulse spending by switching to cash."

If you already have self control, cutting up all your cards and switching to cash just ends up being annoying.

As for freezing it in a glass of water, i have my cc # memorized. That won't stop my online purchases. :p

@cristiana:
I just submitted my comment, and I see that there were several comments already saying what I said. So, sorry for the repeated info.

Good for them, I'm glad to see people can find interesting and inventive ways to help them keep their finances in mind.

Way to think outside of the box with suggestions Consumerist.

I don't see the need for everyone to attack this family. Yes, cutting up your cards and freezing the remaining one in ice is extreme, but it takes guts to acknowledge the fact that desperate times call for desperate measures. It's obviously not a long-term fix, but it has helped them start down the road to fiscal responsibility.

@Cattivella: You beat me to the punch : )

Man, the OP blaming is heavy here. Irregardless of how much money they make, saving this amount is to be commended. You can overspend if you make 20k a year or 200k a year.

Hey is it works for them. Freezing your CC is a little extreme but everyone's got their thing. I freeze all my paychecks.

@DashTheHand and @ironchef: What's up with the holier than thou posts here? You can't really knock the these folks for learning their lesson. Impulse spending is a HUGE problem in the US, and it's a problem that many, many people have. Why do you think credit exists in the first place?

I say, kudos to these folks for actually admitting they have a problem and taking steps to resolve it.

I used to have the same problem. Several years of spending nothing on extra things for myself so I could pay off debt taught me a hard lesson. I now carry one credit card that handles all my purchases that I pay off every month. Some people need to make the mistake and correct it before they learn that credit isn't free, "magical" money. And I say bravo to the folks that actually learn from it and become responsible consumers.

I wonder if a couple of the blamers are unfamiliar with the Sockpuppet portion of Consumerist Comments Code.

If theres blaming going on anywhere, its from the people claiming to have "saved" this money because of credit cards not being available. They went to the extreme of cutting them all up and only having one frozen in a block of ice to rely on in an emergency and then applauding themselves that they saved money because they didn't have the temptation to use credit as opposed to the willpower and knowledge not to use credit when its overreaching their budget.

I think the family did a good job in getting a handle of their expenses. But this piece does seem to blame credit cards for their troubles. I on the other hand, use credit cards to control my spending. If I have cash in my pocket, I tend to spend it here and there. There is little record on what I spent on cash. If I spend on a credit card, I have a monthly report that tells me exactly what I wasted my money on that month.

This is one of the reasons I spend almost everything with a credit card. It also has a grace period until it has to be repaid (free interest in the bank), offers additional warranties for items purchased, gives me cash back (though minuscule), is easily replaceable unlike cash, and easier to carry around (weighs less in my wallet). I pay my bill off every month so it is just like virtual cash to me.

I think the whole spend more than you make thing is in your mind. The OP has their way to control it, I have mine.

@valarmorghulis:

And somebody else might not have read this part of the code:

"Posting only to point out someone is breaking the rules is distracting and unnecessary."

Okay, folks. Time out.

Yes, we have a don't blame the victim rule. I don't think anyone's necessarily been an egregious offender so far, but please remember, posts attacking the victim are not kosher. Calling victims names, for example, does not help and is rude to do. However, that doesn't mean that nobody can ever post anything even moderately skeptical. Saying that spending wildly on credit in general is a bad idea does not equal breaking the Comment Code.

We do, however, have a 'don't junior moderate' rule - if you see a problem post, the proper way is to email or IM me. Don't hit other people over the noggin with the rules. It's just as irritating and only tends to increase the drama of the thread.

Dashthehand, please lessen the histrionics. The caps aren't necessary, and, neither is the dismissiveness.

ironchef, please don't post just to poo-poo. Post something substantive - something constructive.

@BrianDaBrain: I didn't get a holier than though vibe from the two posters you mention. They merely brought up the fact that if you are so irresponsible with your credit cards that freezing them in a block of ice is your last resort, maybe you shouldn't have credit cards in the first place. And dare I say it, too irresponsible to breed. It is one thing to be a college freshman who gets into credit card trouble. It is quite another to behave like an 18 year old gorging on the credit card buffet when you are a grown adult with children.

so I don't even think the article mentioned that they actually saved $1800...just they spent $1800 less. I guess you could say they saved $1800 of less debt then...weird. Personally, I can't use cash, I spend it way too fast and I never know where my money goes.

I don't know how many people I talk to that tell me they need to make at least $300k to prevent cash flow issues.

Terrible headline.

I'm in my second week of Technical Writing, and we already learned to proofread titles to make sure their meaning was clear. Try changing it to Cash-Only.

@BrianDaBrain: The difference lies in your post. You claim to have learned your lesson about impulse buying and yet you still carry a credit card. Bravo! I have no issues bugeting my money and I too only carry two credit cards on me at a time (one AmEx which I prefer to use for cash back purposes, and one Visa for the times when AmEx is not accepted).

As I have posted in previous "credit hater" threads, using credit allows you to gain interest on the cash that you leave untouched in your savings account as well as each bonuses on purchases with most cards available today, while cash has the problem of not earning you interest when its not in the bank, if its stolen its gone for good, and having cash in your wallet/purse is just as much of a temptation to use as a credit card.

The way the headline reads, it sounds like consumerist is downplaying the sig. of the family's savings, as in ONLY $1800. not, as if it were worded this way: "only paying cash saves family $1800/mth". Not usually the grammar police but it took me a moment to read that correctly, so I thought that I may as well mention it.

@BrianDaBrain: Great post, I agree completely. Gotta love those "they have more than me so they suck" whiners that comment.

@DashTheHand: @Fujikopez: @thefastest:

Extremism - sure, but what do you recommend the family does when their spending is out of control? I think it's highly commendable that people want to get their spending under control, regardless of income level.

The family used the cash method as a way to modify their behavior which is positive in my mind.

One thing I do is shop only one day a week. Coupled with the Seinfeldian method of DBTC it's been a powerful way for my family to gain control and keep our credit cards.

@valarmorghulis: Amen.

funny headline... and what do you know, it was changed right when I was about to comment.

I say congrats to the family. Some people have less self control than others so you gotta do what you gotta do to save money. Not everyone's the same.

I would also say that changing the headline to "paying only cash" would be a god idea and make things a bit clearer.

I'm gonna have to ditto a lot of you guys posts...don't be so hard on the story there are a lot of different methods to handling personal finance. i personally am a proponent the don't borrow money method of personal finance...i honestly can't think of an instant where a credit card is better than an emergency fund and a debit card. As far as using cash is concerned, some people do better when their money is tangible...it hurts more to spend it. I agree...have a budget, tell your money what to do, but on top of that ditch the credit cards and get an emergency fund...and only the headline said they "saved" $1800...really they just didn't spend it which is totally different, quit being such nerds :-)

Did anyone else besides me miss-read the headline? - Paying cash ONLY SAVED $1800!

They had a problem and they fixed it. I'm not sure where all the griping about not having will power comes in. Complaining that they had to cut up their cards is like complaining that someone in AA had to get rid of the booze in the house as part of their recovery - sure they should be able to refrain from temptation, but why not make it easier to resist?

Ww, thy'r lk gnss r smthng. Wht nvl d.

:rllys:

@MyPetFly:

I always keep a few glasses in my freezer 1/3 with frozen water. or ice i guess that would be.

Nice for making an easy cold drink and don't have to pry apart ice cubes. (I have a simple fridge)

Folks, the title was changed, but please comment about the meat of the article. Spelling/grammar type stuff should be emailed to the editor - it's not interesting for people to read in threads and doesn't facilitate discussion.

psychologically i find actually laying out cash for something different than using a debit card (i almost never use a CC and usually leave it at home). In most cases it doesn't make a difference but if i'm doing something where my judgment may not be as good as normal (like say drinking, going to a casino etc) i do it strictly cash only and leave the debit cards at home.

@xphilter: I totally agree with you. These folks figured out a way to spend less than they had been spending, because gee golly, they were human and sometimes spent on things they didn't need. But what they did is 'spending less,' it's not 'saving.' Imprecise language leads to imprecise thinking and that can lead to all kinds of wrong conclusions. So kudos to Consumerist for saying it precisely, and shame on ABC for using misleading language.

This is just a problem with our whole culture. Spend spend spend buy buy buy, never mind if you have the money or not. Never mind if you don't need any of these items. And if you have a problem, well you're an impulse spender. It's a disease!

All these things just sound like irresponsibility to me. People need to grow the hell up and start acting like functional adults. It is very sad that this family had to go to such extremes to pull off normal adult behavior. I mean, kudos to them for managing it - but who knows if they'll keep it up. Not to mention, they just gave their children a terrible lesson about credit cards and cash. Hasn't it been shown people are actually more likely to spend cash if they have it on them? Just picture their kids in school "My daddy had to freeze his credit card in a glass of water because he and mommy had no self-control and kept spending more money than they made"

Credit is such a slippery slope and we haven't been educating our children properly. Credit companies go after college kids with no experience/education on how the system works and what the potential consequences of irresponsible credit are (possibly aside from a credit score).

Good for these people for figuring out what they personally needed to do for their family as an immediate solution. But financial/credit education in schools (along with parental commitment)would be a much more positive long-term solution.

I just don't understand why everyone is so connected to their credit cards...just think, if EVERYBODY used their credit cards responsibly and paid it off every month the credit card company wouldn't make any money, and honestly if everyone could do that why would we "need" credit cards? credit cards do prey on people and families like these...what's wrong with having the money in the bank and only spending what you already have. if everyone was as responsible and adult as they say this family is not...good ol visa and Discover would outa business

I do not know if freezing my credit cards in ice would help me. I know a few of my credit card numbers by heart (too many online purchases obviously).

Now, I keep most of my credit cards (that are still open) in a drawer. I have all of my expenses planned out for the next few months. If the expense is not listed and it is not absolutely necessary, I don't buy it. That has definitely limited my spending sprees. I do keep one card with me for emergency purposes. If I'm stranded somewhere, a credit card frozen in the freezer does me no good.

@thefastest: The video shows that did a lot of ATM withdrawals. I wonder how much gas & ATM fees cost them. But I agree; I wish I had that much money to burn.

Anything they can do to get the money saved is a good step. If the credit card being frozen works for them then fine. For me I just pull out my weeks spending money on Sunday and when I run out then I am out.

There is a strong need to High School students to learn personal finance, then maybe we would not be poo pooing these people for learning it late in life. I know it took me some mega failures to fix it and its still a struggle.

I think some on here maybe didn't read the actual story. The family never said they were in financial trouble - only that they wanted more control over their spending. Which they got.

No irresponsibility, no extremes, just basic financial scrutiny through the use of a cash only budget.

One key to living on a cash-basis is to stop thinking of the Credit Card "available balance" as actual money, which I know I have fallen into. And to replace that buffer, you need to .... SAVE ! (shock)

And saving money in our economy can be very very hard to do, much harder than simply getting a higher limit on your card.

@graffight: I don't "need" my credit card. But it's damn useful. It acts as a buffer between my actual money and the world (steal my credit card and I can cancel it without you having raided my bank account), various consumer protections (i.e. charge backs and extended warranties in some cases), and rewards (I've gotten back about $150 this year so far).

@JustThatGuy3: DAMN, guilty as charged. Thanks for pointing it out (seriously).

@DashTheHand: There is a famous phrase, "out of sight, out of mind." Many people have a psychological barrier to shelling out cash that is not present in swiping a card and signing your name. Is that right? Sure, people are different and work in different ways. It's awesome that others are able to keep your credit balance in the mental realm of "these are actual dollars" rather than "just a number."

It reminds me of the famouse Stalin quote "A single death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is just a statistic." Not to say that finances and genocide are at all similar...

"I'm not sure where all the griping about not having will power comes in."
@stanner: You just can't win with some people.

If you have a problem with X it's, "OMG, I can't believe you have a problem with X! You're a terrible human being!"
If you fix the problem with X it's, "OMG, I can't believe you did that to fix the problem! You're a terrible human being!"
If you avoid X entirely it's, "OMG, I can't believe you can't handle X! You're a terrible human being!"

They weren't even having serious money problems. They didn't say they were in a lot of debt, just that they were spending too much. You'd think they'd be commended for at least recognizing the problem before it caused any real damage.