A Delhi content creator switched to cash for daily expenses and found it helped reduce impulse buying. She now uses an 80-20 cash-UPI balance.
A Delhi woman has shared how stepping away from UPI for her everyday expenses helped her become more mindful of the way she spends money, switching to cash for most purchases and noticing a significant difference.
Delhi-based content creator Sadaf spoke about the experiment in a video posted on Instagram. She said she was in the third month of using cash for most of her daily expenses instead of depending on UPI.
Digital Payments Mask Spending
According to Sadaf, the biggest change was that she became much more aware of how much money she was spending. She said digital payments made it easy to overlook small purchases because transactions happened within seconds.
She explained that buying a coffee, ordering snacks or making a few online purchases might not seem expensive at the time. However, several small payments could quickly add up to nearly Rs 1,000 without people even noticing. Using cash, she said, created a different feeling.
Handing over a Rs 500 note made her think before spending because she could immediately see how much money was leaving her wallet and how much was left.
Sadaf added that this simple change helped reduce impulse buying. It also made it easier to stick to a budget, as she no longer had to keep checking her banking app to track her expenses.
Although the experiment worked well for her, Sadaf admitted that completely giving up UPI was not practical. She pointed out that cash payments can sometimes become inconvenient.
Finding a Balance
For example, if a bill comes to Rs 470 and she only has a Rs 500 note, the shopkeeper may not always have enough change. Because of this, she now follows a balanced approach. She keeps around 80 per cent of her money in cash while leaving the remaining 20 per cent in her bank account for UPI payments whenever digital transactions are necessary.
Sadaf said that while carrying cash comes with a few challenges, she has no plans to go back to using UPI for every purchase because the habit has made her much more conscious about where her money goes.
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