Is it easier to save money when you pay with cash?

Consumers who have bank accounts have gotten used to paying for everything with a debit or credit card. People might carry some cash, but they rarely spend it.

But there’s some research which suggests that paying for things with cash makes you think about the purchase more because the transaction is more real. You don’t see the money going out of your bank account and into the cash register with a card. You do when you hand over cash in exchange for whatever you’re buying.

Writing in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers in Canada and the U.S. suggest paying with greenbacks might even make you appreciate your purchase more.

“While the convenience of going cashless is undeniable, it comes with an inadvertent downside – we tend to value purchases less when using a card than when we pay via the more ‘painful’ methods of cash or check,” the authors write.

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