No more debit card!?!

I was given a debit card when I was 17-years-old. That should be a crime. Don't get me wrong, my parents had good intentions. I would shortly be on my own living at a tennis academy in Florida so if I ever needed cash they wouldn't be there.

I quickly grew accustomed to the ease of sliding that blue card into an ATM machine, punching in a 4-digit number, selecting a dollar amount, and instantly receiving cash. I wasn't thinking about where that money came from. For all I knew there was a man behind that machine saying, "Here ya go, have fun today at the mall!"

Three years down the road, using my debit card so freely irritates me. I honestly am not a spoiled child and the last thing I want to do is take advantage of my parents. I just have great parents who work hard and want to provide for their children. I am 20 now, and the guilt got to me two weeks ago. I've decided to retire the debit card.

The problem is that I am an athlete at Mason, president of our Student-Athletic Advisory Council (SAAC), a devoted student and I have a mom who won't let me get a job even if I beg. She says, "Absolutely not, you have to focus on school and tennis. You'll work the rest of your life." But I know I am going to need cash, at least for the necessities of living. So we worked out a deal.

She would budget $150 a week for me. I would take the money out at my bank, keep my receipts and record my spending. I would leave the debit card at home--never to give into any urges, and only spend money on necessities.

This is new for me, but this budget has inspired me to blog about being thrifty and discovering ways to spend (or not spend) money on a daily basis. So I want to utilize this space with creative ways, tricks, and sometimes just a little discipline of managing your money.