Care for the Family launches its Cash for a Month initiative this week, challenging the nation to ditch their credit and debit cards in favour of using only cash for a month.

The initiative is spearheaded by Katie Clarke and her father, Care for the Family founder Rob Parsons, who penned together The Sixty Minute Debt Buster book.

Cash for a Month is encouraging people to draw cash each Monday and use it for everyday expenses. The aim is to make the cash last a week.

Over 2,000 people took part in Cash for a Month when it was first trialled. Whilst 57 per cent of the participants surveyed said they found switching to a cash-only lifestyle difficult, 81 per cent recognised that it was an excellent way to regain financial control and 83 per cent said they would recommend it to other people.

With the nation's personal debt growing at a million pounds every ten minutes, Parsons believes the Cash for a Month initiative will help hundreds of thousands of people regain control of their finances.

"Cash for a Month is about re-evaluating the way you view money. Plastic whispers to us this is not real money but there is something about cash that makes us think twice before spending," he says.

Clarke said the switch to cash only need not be difficult.

"The idea really is very simple and the results can be quite remarkable. We have seen peoples finances turned around and they begin the journey to becoming debt free. It's not a quick fix, but it certainly re-educates us about the way we spend and helps us to regain financial control."

Advice about going back to cash and other money saving tips are featured in The Sixty Minute Debt Buster by Katie Clarke with Rob Parsons, and published by Lion Hudson.

To sign up for Cash for a Month, go to www.careforthefamily.co.uk/debtbuster