Hacker News Reader

I've actually had the opposite experience as you. Having my debit card keeps an easy running tally which is difficult to do unless you only leave with small sums of cash in your pockets. However, when you only have a small amount of cash you run into the "just short" effect, where all you need is a few dollars more to get what you want and you can afford it but can't get it. To me, the potential opportunity cost is just not worth it.

View on HN

I have found it difficult to track cash spending. I picked up using GNUCash this year, and that helped a bit. I at least can capture most cash spending to see if I'm within budget in different categories. But every few week's I still need to make a 'correction' transaction for ~$10, which is annoying.

I adjusted my budget so dining out is included in the broad category of "entertainment", along with bars, movies, and other stuff.

(I do track calories from these things though :))

Reply on news.ycombinator.com