It’s a new month and I’m going to make a point this March to use cash more often. First thing is to check my emergency cash stash at home. I try and keep $2000 at home for such emergencies. We live in an area where we can get ice storms and have the power out in our surrounding area for a week.
No power, no internet, no atm and no debit cards. So having that cash on hand for emergencies is key. That and paying the cleaning service when we forget to have money on hand.
That’s fine, but I want to start making a point to use cash at stores. I’ll start with $200 in my wallet and start taking out $40 a week to replenish that and maybe have a little extra on hand for those larger expenses that might pop up (car work, larger grocery bills, etc).
Of course when it comes to privacy, you just can’t beat cash. No company is tracking your expenses, paying attention to what you purchase. Remember the case of Target knowing that a girl was pregnant before she told her father? The story can be read here. Everything from putting in your member number, or using the same card time and time again at a store, they can and will use it to track you.
If instead, you use cash, there is no way to track you unless you let them (they will ask for your member number, phone number, usually something) and to which you politely decline to give and walk out after paying.
There are other online methods for paying such as using Privacy.com (no affiliate links). I do use them and I actually pay for the upgraded version where I can choose what I want to show on my VISA credit card statements. My statements current say: Smiley’s Corner Store, on any of my virtual card purchases. I highly recommend them for virtual credit cards as a layer of protection that will hide your real name and address and also prevent any hackers from stealing your information. Even if they did break into Target’s system, you’re virtual number can easily be deleted and of course there will be limits placed on it from the beginning anyhow. I have cards from Walmart, netflix, ebay, etc. No one failure point.
I would love to see more people use cash though. I guess it can start with me.
