Credit: Fuel Bookkeeping |
Before I left Missouri for New Mexico, and I was going through odds and ends as to what to take and what to discard, I came across my checkbook and a modest supply of checks.
Did I need these anymore?
I'd been out of the country for a year and never wrote a check during that time. Well, at winter break, when I was in Missouri and needed to pay my personal property tax, I used a check. That was because my county government office, like some other Luddite government offices, don't take any form of plastic. (What about those who want to "run government like a business," ... never mind, this is not a political blog.)
In Georgia, I used my Georgian debit card or cash. In my daily life in the U.S., I rarely use cash, relying on my debit card and credit card, and electronic bill payment.
In late September, though, as I held my checkbook, I contemplated shredding my remaining checks but decided, you never know, I might need them, so I brought them along.
Thank God I did. And, in retrospect, it was kind of silly to think I wouldn't need any checks in the future.
I needed a check to pay my rent. I needed a check to buy New Mexico's annual park entrance pass. No plastic accepted by either operator.
Sidebar: This post reminds me of my irritation with mint.com, a free service that requires the inclusion of a credit card number to use the application. I don't get that, and there's no explanation provided. Not everyone uses plastic, but they still want to use a money-management application. No can do with mint.com.
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