Cash or Plastic?

Saving or simply putting some money aside for anything is difficult. I have used the credit card to charge survival preps although I know that I shouldn’t have done so.

At lunch recently I think I noticed why so man of the sheeple are entrapped into our society of consumerism. It was payday and my lunch was just over $10. I gave the waitress a $10 and a $5 bill and left a tip of $2 plus change. The two female coworkers presented their check cards. One mentioned that her husband looked at the bank statements and realized over a period of several months they spent $700 on sit-down dinners for their family of four! Yes, they could well afford the $700 but they decided there were better uses for that money than expensive dinners. In the 3 months since that discovery, they have only made an occasional trip to a fast food restaurant or pizza joint.

I mentioned that I use cash whenever possible for gasoline purchases and always for groceries. I go as far as to put paper clips and sticky notes on cash destined to be used for fuel for each vehicle, ammo, supplies, etc. The other woman was surprised that I used cash for groceries and said she didn’t like to carry money. My grocery money stays home and most of the gas money is gone when I fuel the vehicles.

Because of this, I always know how much money is in my wallet. I have never used the debit card and with two people drawing on the same checking account, there are bound to be problems. I write paper checks for most but not all of our bills. It is simply easier to manage cash flow when there is a tangible flow through my hands! Swiping plastic, whether for a planned purchase or on a whim, is so much more convenient.