If you want to figure out how to spend less money, the best way to is go entirely cash. Don’t charge a single thing to your credit card, don’t write a single check, and don’t pay for anything with anything else other than cash.

Going 100% cash is hard. It’s hard because we have grown accustomed to the features and conveniences of credit cards. We have access to a tremendous amount of capital with the swipe of a card and often find ourselves spending money we probably wouldn’t have if forced to carry around the cash to pay for it. We will be leveraging that same psychological feeling when we practice the art of going 100% cash.

The main reason this will save you money is because cash is real, whereas credit isn’t. There’s a reason why casinos use colorful clay chips rather than money - you abstract away how valuable the cash representation is. A $100 chip looks just like a $1 chip, it’s just a different color. Your $5,000 credit limit is personified by a smiling teddy bear on a plastic card with a magnetic strip. Your purchases will feel more “painful” because you have to hand over real money and so you’ll naturally spend less.

Another reason you’ll save money is because you generally won’t carry enough money with you to make huge purchases. Tempted by a $300 purse or a $500 Onkyo receiver? Unless you are rolling with that much cash in your wallet, you won’t be able to buy it when the urge strikes. You’ll have to go to the ATM, withdraw the money, and then return to the store if you really want it. By then, the urge will likely have subsided.

Try going entirely with cash for a week or even a day, you’ll notice that your spending will have fallen.

When you have four children, you’re always looking for a way to save a little cash entertaining the little ones during the summer. I don’t have 4 kids but Raising4Boys.com does and they compiled a list of free summer movies for kids (or almost free) for the second year in a row. National chains and local theaters are represented, as best as they could find, and there are plenty of places offering great shows for cheap prices.

For example, do you have an AMC nearby? $1 movies for charity on Wednesdays from June 25th through August 6th. How about a Regal Cinemas? Free admission to select G & PG movies starting 10am each Tuesday and Wednesday.

Can’t beat that with a stick!

At the DMH household, we swapped out all of our regular incandescent light bulbs with the hot new squiggly compact flourescent lightbulbs. Did you know that replacing a 60 watt bulb with a 13 watt bulb can save you around $30 over the lifetime of the bulb? Yep, it clearly pays for itself and you use less electricity to boot. And the bulbs burn cooler and last longer.

That factoid, and many other money hacks, are available at this week’s Carnival of Money Hacks hosted by Moolanomy. Incidentally, that factoid was provided by GE Lighting in their Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CFL) FAQ.

Having a tough time saving? Consider a shopping fast one of these weekends. A shopping fast is where you agree, for one weekend, not to spend any money whatsoever. For one weekend a month, don’t spend any money and live off the stuff you already have. This includes no heading off to the mall and no going to the local watering hole for a burger and a beer.

No spend doesn’t mean you can’t watch TV because electricity costs money or skip showers because water isn’t free, I just mean that you should restrict yourself from participating in the consumerism of America in the sense that you won’t buy clothes or electronics or even fast food. Skip it all, just for one weekend. Do it every single month and you’ll save yourself some considerable cash.