My week of only using cash: could a return to notes and coins change my life?

If I’m lucky, I can just about squeeze a £20 note into the back of my phone case, which holds the device I reflexively tap to pay for almost everything. But this week was different. After a reckless coffee-and-clothing spending spree made a mighty dent in my bank account, I decided I needed to take action. Self-control was one option, but another more drastic route was blunt-force restriction. I would ditch contactless payments, along with debit and credit cards. Instead, I would spend a week relying solely on cash.

After subtracting the lavish lattes and Asos deliveries that had massively inflated my average weekly spend, I allowed myself £180 for the basics, including food and travel. For safety, I gave myself an extra £20. The first task was to take out £200 in cash from the ATM. But what the hell was my pin number? Thanks to contactless capabilities, I hadn’t used this all-important combination of digits in more than a year. Googling how to find it, I discovered I’d have to wait three to five working days to get a letter reminding me of it in the post. This wouldn’t do. I decided to head to my local bank to explain my predicament.

“Have you got ID?” said the cashier. I did. “You can take out cash now,” he continued. Perfect. I left the bank with a wad of £20 notes, feeling optimistic about my cash-dependent week ahead.

Day 1. Starting balance: £200

I still had that week’s worth of money in my hand when a fairly strong gust of wind hit me, and I clasped the notes for dear life. I was going to need something to keep this cash safe. The thought of splashing a chunk of my budget on a wallet seemed irresponsible. There had to be another, more cost-effective option. I came across it in Tesco: a flat, translucent pencil case, slightly bigger than the size of a bank note. Perfect – and, even better, it cost just £1.

Before heading to the till with my purchase, I picked up a few others bits: 1kg of c