Re: I like proper cash
"The only time I ever need cash is when the inevitable cake-sale-at-school type event rolls around and the kids ask (on the morning of the sale) to have some cash to go to school with. Denied, usually, due to no warning and no ATMs on the way to school."
I started down that road and hit a pothole. I was at an out of town conference and one morning at the coffee shop getting some java and a bun, my card was declined. I called the bank and they told me somebody in S. Africa tried to use my card number to buy a plane ticket. The bank caught the fraud and canceled the card. I wasn't on the hook, but I also didn't have any money to settle up with the hotel, buy petrol on the way home or eat for the weekend. "Due to security" the bank would not send a replacement card to my hotel or even let me make a withdrawal at a local branch where I could present a stack of ID and the cancelled card. My coworkers that were also at the conference clubbed together to loan me enough cash to get me through the conference and back home.
I now make sure I have enough cash in pocket to buy a meal and a tank full of petrol. If I'm on a longer trip, I'll have cash to pay for pretty much everything or at least food and fuel. I could sleep in the car if pressed. There are too many links in the digital currency chain to trust it when the downside is being stranded in the middle of nowhere out of gas and hungry in a blizzard/heat wave.
The other benefit is that I can regulate my discretionary spending better if I'm limited to the cash on me. I don't need to keep track of every purchase of small things to see where my money goes. I am happy enough with an "account" marked "misc".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
