Monday, October 22, 2018

Word of advice - carry cash


  
        Life here in Florida for the month of October has been pretty idyllic.
Granted, it’s been too hot for my taste, in the humid upper 80s to low 90s, a bit higher than it usually is this time of year. Still, we’ve managed some beach time, hit a museum in St. Petersburg, and eaten out at several places we can’t get our foot into when the winter season is up and roaring.

          To simplify things in our absence, we’re having a no-mail month. We arranged to have the mail held at the post office at home, and are receiving none here. I realized today the limbo this places me in.

          I was setting up this month’s credit card payment on line and noticed something odd in my account. Even though I spent yesterday with my backside planted in the sand, I apparently was also making a payment to AirBnB, something I’ve never used. Fortunately, the payment was 0 dollars. I called my credit card company.

          Yep, bad news – someone has my card number. Good news – that’s all they have, so it was declined.     

          Okay, so cancel the card and get a new one. Simple. Easy peasy. Except I’m not home and can’t receive mail here, and therefore can’t get my hands on the new one till I get home.

 Life with no credit card. It might as well be 1952. I feel naked.

          Solution: I’ll use the remaining house credit card when I must, and dig out the green stuff for everything else. 

10 comments:

  1. Yes, sometimes cash is the only thing that works. Sorry to hear somebody got your card info! Grrr!

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  2. Excellent news that they didn't succeed in spending your hard-earned.
    I am a fan of cash. I find it easier to keep track of what I am spending. Yes, I know, I am a dinosaur.

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    1. plus you're not racking up interest rates, they're the real killer when it comes to credit and "paying off" things

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  3. When I lived in Germany a few years ago, and traveled around quite a bit, I found cash was the most common payment method. Distant second was debit cards, most Europeans carried them just to get cash. Most restaurants would take only cash.

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  4. I always carry cash, just never very much of it but when beggars ask me for spare change I tell them "I'm sorry, I don't carry cash".

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    1. I usually have some cash - I've always felt silly charging something that's like $5.

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  5. Well, that's a wee bit of a pain. Sounds like you'll manage though.

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    1. And on the plus side, I'll be more aware of how much I'm spending, unlike the credit card with its seemingly bottomless $ pile.

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  6. That is a bummer about your card. Thankfully they were denied. Cash is great unless you want to check into a motel. Then you need all kinds of I.D. due to 9-11.

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  7. our go to is cash. we only use the credit card for very few monthly bills.

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