Recap: August experiment

We just closed out our August books.

And. . . (drumroll, please). . .

SUCCESS!

Looks like we'll be on the cash system for September, too. And October and November and December. The girls are now on their way to a semester's worth of college books fully funded by Mom and Dad. That's right, people, we saved money!!! (If you could, please read that in an Oprah voice, as I did when I wrote that.)

I mean, that's exciting, right? We saved about $100 from our budget simply by paying with cash. But I actually feel kind of dumb that we haven't done the cash system before. Who KNOWS how many useless college Chemistry and Biology books we could have saved for by now! Once I got the hang of the cash system, I loved it. Loved it. It was actually quite fun to count my piles of money throughout the month. I found great enjoyment by paying with exact change. And I confidently purchased cute clothes for the girls because I knew we were under-budget.

I asked Ryan to make a spreadsheet showing me how much money we would have in fifteen years if we put away $100 every month into an account with a modest rate of return. He never did*, and I don't know how to, so I am going to estimate. My best guess is . . . three hundred thousand dollars!!!!!! Isn't that fantastic? Wait. What? Are my calculations off?

Well, let's assume we earn no interest at all. (I can't do that kind of math.) (I actually tutor College Algebra**, but if I don't have the book in front of me, I can't even graph a circle.) (But who cares, right? Who will ever need to graph a circle without being able to reference a book?) (Besides students.)

ANYWAY. If we save $1,200 a year ($100/month x 12 months. . . still with me?), then in fifteen years we will have saved $18,000. That's a heck of a lot better than $0. (I think. I may need to reference the ol' math book's chapter on significant digits, but I think I'm right.)

So what I'm saying is, the cash system saved us money. Maybe Dave Ramsey actually does know what he's talking about.

*I read him this paragraph, and he got his panties all in a wad that I called him out on this. He asked me to explain that SIX HOURS was not enough notice. SIX HOURS, you guys. Do you know what all I can accomplish in six hours?

**And by "tutor College Algebra" I mean "once-upon-a-time-tutored, you know, before I decided I would rather go to the gym than do math".