One Rand Man counts on saving cash
THE proliferation of electronic banking and plastic cards these days has meant many of us part with large sums of money without giving much thought to the magnitude of purchases.
What would it be like to get your salary in coins? Would you think differently about your spending habits? Would you save more?
A 32-year-old Cape Town architectural consultant is engaging in a social experiment to feel more connected with his money.
He took delivery of his salary last month in bags of R1 coins, and will go without the luxury of modern banking and spending methods all of this month — national savings month. He will record the responses of everyone he deals with using hidden cameras.
He calls himself the One Rand Man, and his first webisode was hosted online on July 5. He is also tweeting at OneRandMan and has an Instagram account — onerandman — to post daily updates.
Financial services company Sanlam selected One Rand Man for the experiment based on his socioeconomic profile.
“I’m a young professional earning a good salary in a corporate environment, and I have certain spending habits and amounts of debt. In other words, I’m broke by the 15th or 20th of the month, like most people,” he said.
Although he will remain anonymous for the sake of safety and privacy, the three bags of coins that were delivered to his house weighed about 150kg.
“I’ve started by paying my two clothing accounts and basic bills, as well as day-to-day grocery shopping.
“I stopped all my debit orders for the month, and fortunately some of my accounts were paid off before this month. I’m about to pay the big amounts — my car and rent, which amount to about R5 000.”
He made arrangements to pay his creditors in cash by a certain date, but did not tell them he would be handing over R1 coins.
“I need to make payments at
I’ve noticed that the effort of counting has kept me to buying only what I need
the bank, so I’ll take one of those trolley suitcases with wheels. I have all my R1 coins separated in buckets already. I’ve spent a lot of time counting.”
The reactions to transactions conducted in R1 coins?
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how professional the retail departments have been so far.
“Just a couple of comments passed, but people generally smile and giggle.
“Of course, if everyone did it they’d be irritated, but this is a novel situation so they’re all quite happy to help me out.”
He has found he can fit about R180 in his wallet. “For daily shopping or buying dinner that’s sufficient, but I carry around a Tupperware bucket for bigger purchases.
“Although it’s early days, what I’ve noticed already is that the effort of counting has kept me to buying only what I need.
“If you go out to buy milk and come back with 10 other things you want but don’t need as much, that doesn’t happen when you have to count out coins.
“I walk past sales in Century City and stand in shops looking at items I want, but when I ask myself if I need to buy them right now, the answer is always no, I don’t need it now.
“Separating my money into piles for my payment commitments will make me pay more careful attention in the future when I buy something on revolving credit or overdraft. It’s short-term happiness that comes with heartache afterwards that’s not worth it.”
You can follow One Rand Man’s exploits and see how he is faring at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLY_tGjm-9Y.