Old School Finances – Day 1 (March 31st)
For a over a month, I have been really losing a grip on my finances. If you would ask me how much money I have I would not know. All of it was in the bank and I was so busy with the new granddaughter and work that I just could not keep up with even the incoming mail much less our finances. I started thinking how complicated my financial life has been. With multiple accounts at ING Direct and a local checking account, debit cards, credit cards, automatic payments, direct deposit… Yikes! Where is my money going????
Years ago it was easy, I would get paid and the money would be gone. Nothing to track. The one checking account I had was really only a place to hold the rent payment because the rental office was only open till 5 pm. I could pay everyplace else in cash. Need to reconcile the checkbook? One check cleared. How easy is that?
Remembering this got me thinking, is it possible to live on cash today? With direct deposits, and electric checks, everyone with credit/debit cards, can someone in today’s society exist on a cash only basis?
So this month I am experimenting with my finances to see if it is possible. It should be.
Day -5 (yes 5 days ago)
I actually started a few days ago by canceling my direct deposit. This was very easy, just let HR know.
Day 1 (March 31st)
I get paid on the 15th and last day of the month, so today is essentially the beginning of the month for me. Got my paper check and actually I had the afternoon off. I could very easily get to my bank to cash my check. (Even though the bank is open later than 5 pm in today’s world.) At the bank they looked at my check and looked at me like I was nuts wanting to cash a payroll check. “Well” the teller said, “I am going to have to get more cash for my till. I am going to have to give you some hundreds…”, as she walked away with my check.
She came back with more money for her till but then came the issues. She looked up my account. She said “I have a problem. I am going to need a supervisor to approve this. You don’t have enough money in your account.” I am thinking to myself of course not. No news to me. I actually knew I had a little over $100 in the checking account. She got a supervisor to come over and they both had a look of no way. I could see them thinking he wants cash????
The supervisor told me that they could not cash my check. I would have to go to the bank it was drawn on and probably pay a fee for them to cash it. Wait a fee to get my own money. Boy, banks really have a racket going. I could deposit the check and take out $150 (a debit card transaction didn’t clear yet?) and then come back for the rest in a couple days. The check needs to clear.
Now here it is pay day. I have a check, bills to pay and no real access to get at it. The supervisor did tell me that I could have had access to the fund today, if the check was direct deposited. DOH!!!!
So I deposited the check and left it all in there. I will come back…
Just my 2 cents. Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com
© 2009 ChangeJarSavings.com
1Betsy Bargain
wrote on 2 April 2009 at 16:56
As you began to discover with your experiment, I think it would be very difficult to live on a cash only basis in today’s world. Would it even be desirable? As long as you have some self control and organizational skills, I think electronic banking, credit cards, etc., can be useful and convenient.
2Jim
wrote on 6 April 2009 at 11:53
Betsy – Yes electronic banking can be useful and convenient. My purpose is to find out how difficult it is to live without the “conveniences” that have been forced on us by banks.
I remember that ATMs were created because it would be more convenient for us but the banks would save money by using less tellers. Now they charge us for using the same machines that were a “convenience” for us.
Some of these convenineces make it harder to get a real handle on your money. It is sort of anti-climatic to get a paycheck that says VOID.
Jim