When I say, "paid with cash," I mean paid with actual, physical money. Many books on personal finance use the phrase "pay with cash" to mean not using a credit card. This can include using a check or debit card. Well, many places won't take checks these days and as of January 27, 2013, retailers in most states will be able to charge customers a fee to use their credit cards (including purchases used with a debit card that are run as credit).
So, when I went to a local merchant today, a small business, locally owned, I paid in cash. How does this make my life better? Several ways:
1) I'm still not using consumer debt.
2) I feel better in that the merchant doesn't have to pay one penny of fees to any bank so therefore gets to keep more profit from my purchase.
3) The coins I get back in change go into a container that every month gets taken to a Coinstar kiosk at the grocery store and turned into a store gift card for on-line retailers that we use. This allows me to shop on-line without using a credit card.
4) No bank or credit card company can track that purchase since I paid cash. I'm not particularly paranoid about my bank tracking my purchases, but still, every so often one has to wonder who is watching.
Try it yourself! You may even find yourself switching over to only using cash. I think it'd be better in general if we used cash more often.
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