I must confess, I am a serial tap-and-go offender.

If I’m heading out, I’ll grab my phone and keys and be out the door. I rarely carry a handbag, and I couldn’t tell you the last time I deliberately took cash out of an ATM.

Whether it’s grabbing lunch, doing the groceries or ordering something I usually don’t need from Amazon, paying for things has become so seamless that I barely give it a second thought.

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And therein lies the issue: I’ve become so accustomed to the convenience of a phone tap that spending money barely feels like spending money anymore.

That is until I open up my bank account at the end of the week and, well, let’s just say yikes.

So, in an attempt to get a better handle on my finances, I decided to put myself to the test: seven days, cash only.

There were a few exceptions, of course. Regular bills still came out of my bank account, although I would have loved to see the look on my real estate agent’s face when I handed over a week’s rent in cash.

But everything else had to be paid for with physical money.

And what a challenge it was.

First hurdle: Actually remembering my wallet

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My first task was getting my hands on some physical cash.

It might sound simple enough but finding an ATM was surprisingly difficult and, when I did find one, I was slugged with a $3.80 withdrawal fee.

I was slugged with a $3.80 fee to withdraw cash. Credit: 7NEWS

It occurred to me very quickly that I had no idea how much I spend in a week (which is a problem in itself), so I withdrew $400.

This then presented another problem: I was now carrying around hundreds of dollars in my wallet.

I felt significantly less secure than I do with my cards stored on my phone, where someone would have to get through several barriers before accessing my money.

But the biggest challenged was simply remembering to take my wallet with me in the first place.

I’m so used to leaving the house without it that picking it up before I left felt like a bit of a chore, and I found myself trekking back up the stairs more times than I’d like to admit.

Shopping in store

My first major outing was a trip to Aldi, where I was keen to see whether physically walking around the supermarket and paying with cash would change my usual grocery habits.

For context, I generally spend between $120 and $150 on groceries each week, usually shopping online through Woolworths.

This time, I walked out of Aldi having spent just $98.

That’s a pretty decent saving, although it is a different grocery store and I will admit I forgot a few small things.

I walked out of Aldi having spent just $98. Credit: 7NEWS

Shopping online comes with the advantage of remembering your regular purchases and prompting you to restock household staples.

Walking around a supermarket with a trolley, on the other hand, makes it surprisingly easy to forget what you actually went there for.

There was also the small matter of Aldi’s self-service not accepting cash, meaning I had to join the staffed checkout queue.

When you’ve barely got half a trolley, there is nothing quite like finding yourself behind someone seemingly shopping for a family of 14.

Suddenly, my usual conveniences were off the table

The biggest surprise wasn’t necessarily how much I was or wasn’t spending, but how many things I could no longer do.

I was looking after my mum following surgery and, on a day when I would normally have ordered lunch, I found myself struggling to find an option that would accept cash.

With delivery minimums and payment restrictions ruling out my usual options, I was forced to get out of the house and find something nearby.

It actually turned into a win: I went for a walk, discovered a new Thai restaurant, and even scored a 10 per cent discount for paying with cash.

But a lazy night in was a different story. I didn’t want to cook or have to leave the house but my usual delivery options were off the table.

With rain coming down in bucket loads, I had no choice but to get into the kitchen.

With my usual delivery options were off the table. Credit: AAP

At a local market, stallholders seemed genuinely pleased when I pulled out cash, even though they all accepted card payments.

But I encountered another roadblock when, for dinner on Sunday, I visited a Korean barbecue restaurant where drinks were ordered through a QR code on the table.

The initial meal payment could be made with cash but ordering anything extra through the QR system required a card.

That left me with only the complimentary water and tea.

By Monday, even my office vending machine had become an issue, only accepting cards and leaving my usual lunchtime drink out of reach.

Then on Tuesday, I was forced to abandon my groceries at the Woolworths checkout when I realised I had left my wallet in the car.

It was becoming increasingly obvious just how much of our daily lives are designed around the assumption everyone will tap and go.

The $100 petrol payment that really hurt

There was one moment during the week that really drove home just how differently cash makes you feel about spending.

On Thursday, I had to fill up the car on my way to work.

Petrol is one of those unavoidable expenses but handing over two $50 notes hurt. Credit: AAP

Petrol is one of those unavoidable expenses and, while watching the numbers climb towards $100 on the bowser is never particularly enjoyable, I usually just tap while wiping away a tear and move on with the day.

But this time, I had to walk inside and hand over two $50 notes. It genuinely hurt.

There was something about physically handing over that money, knowing I wasn’t getting anything back, that made the cost feel significantly more confronting.

What the experts say

According to UNSW economist Professor Gigi Foster, there is a behavioural economics explanation for why handing over physical money can make spending feel more significant.

“The value of the money itself is much more salient. It’s much more clear, much more in focus, much more just attended to by virtue of the fact that you’re having to count out bills,” she told 7NEWS.com.au.

When paying by card, consumers may know exactly how much they’re spending but the physical act of handing over money is removed, making the loss less tangible.

“Losses hurt more than gains give us joy,” she said.

That psychological discomfort can influence purchasing decisions, potentially making people think twice about impulse purchases or unnecessary expenses.

There is a behavioural economics explanation for why handing over physical money can make spending feel more significant.  Credit: 7NEWS

This was something I noticed during my own experiment.

With Uber and Amazon no longer convenient options, I found myself reconsidering purchases I’d normally make without hesitation.

Did I really need to order dinner, or could I make something with what I already had in the freezer?

Did I really need to buy something online, or could it wait?

Those small moments of reconsideration quickly became part of my routine and I didn’t hate it.

Foster said using physical cash could also help people take a more structured approach to budgeting, particularly through the envelope method.

Under the approach, people allocate physical amounts of money to different expenses, such as groceries, transport and entertainment, making it easier to see how much they have left to spend.

“It might be a little easier for you to keep track of that spending to actually stay within your budgeted allocations for these different areas,” she said.

She also argued cash still has an important place in society, particularly when it comes to teaching children about money and supporting smaller community businesses.

While the convenience of digital payments is difficult to deny, she believes abandoning cash altogether would be a mistake.

So, will I be ditching tap-and-go for good?

While I am leaning toward using cash more often from now on, I’m probably not going to completely ditch tap-and-go.

There were plenty of moments throughout the week when I found myself frustrated by the inconvenience of carrying cash.

There were also a few unexpected costs, including that $3.80 ATM fee and drinks that cost more at a cafe than they do in a vending machine.

And because my partner and I share household expenses, there was a little accounting headache when I’d pay for groceries in cash and he’d transfer his half back to me digitally.

Suddenly, my bank account was getting healthier while my wallet was getting lighter and it was difficult to keep track of what I’d actually spent.

But I did become much more conscious of my spending and I genuinely needed that.

I wasn’t mindlessly adding things to an online shopping basket, ordering takeaway because it was convenient, or making little purchases simply because tapping my phone was so easy.

 I did become much more conscious of my spending. Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

I started thinking about what I already had, what I actually needed, and whether something was worth handing over hard-earned cash for.

I don’t think I’ll be abandoning my phone wallet anytime soon but I can definitely see myself withdrawing a set amount of cash each week to cover everyday expenses.

Because while going cash-only wasn’t always convenient, it made me do something I should have been doing all along — think before tapping.