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firmly in the 21st century

May 29th, 2011 at 05:07 am

Well, I had an entry yesterday but my Firefox burped and the site ate it and it was gone. Let me summarize:

I moved my checking from Chase to a local credit union, and was asked whether I needed checks. Since I am 49, I was taken aback - you mean people don't use checks. Turns out that I only have 4 places that I use checks regularly ... so I've become one of those people who don't use checks. I set up two bill pays, two more to go should I need them. I feel like I'm the 21st century.

I will have to go back to monitoring my spending - I've had to dip into my savings twice this month. Its one thing if its inflation or bad luck or I spent a bit on some fun, but its another thing if there's a mindless leak that I can do something about.

So far in the two last weeks I spent on two out-to-eat lunches, one with a woman I met on the Vietnam tour (to be honest I didn't think I made any friends), the other with screenwriter friend and partner of lawyer friend; money on net rice papers that were a lattice instead of solid (those were $1.49 per package, so not a bank breaker), some on pork sausage, ginger, rhubarb, and other groceries to make cha gio; the sewer water garbage bill; to take one class in garden mosaic art; paint, brushes, sandpaper to artistically 'distress' the picture frames I got at the neighborhood yard sale - so so far, I've spent on needs, social, and fun that I'm going to implement. No mindless leak has appeared yet.

Two days ago I began to harvest some baby lettuces that I've been growing in a two foot bowl with wheels. This year I was clever - I planted the lettuces in a big "X", so that no matter when I got around to weeding and harvesting, I knew what's in my pot. Last year I planted randomly, and what happened is that the lettuces sprouted randomly, along with the weeds. It was okay for a few weeks, but then the weeds got the better of me. Planting the "X" means that I can also plant another "X" between the older "X" for a later harvest.

Posted in Fixed Income, Growing calories | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “firmly in the 21st century”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    May 29th, 2011 at 02:21 pm 1306678908
    1306678908

    I (unfortunately) need checks for property taxes, and school activities.

    I can see why you don't need checks!

    I owed SIL and MIL some money for gifts (went in halvsies), and it occurred to me for the first time to just pay them online. Duh. I am still learning/adjusting. That will save me a few checks a year. I have been paying preschool, gardener, piano teacher (all individuals) with my online bill pay. My CU just mails them a check. Newly added: monetary reimbursements to family and friends.

    Of course, I could probably pay everything online, but still some fees on some things like PayPal and credit card payments to government collectors. I avoid the fees.

  2. retire@50 Says:
    May 29th, 2011 at 07:31 pm 1306697481
    1306697481

    I still use checks to pay the cleaner once a month and then there is the property tax once a year and little odds and ends now and then. A whole book of 25 usually lasts me a year or more. Most of my monthly bills are charged to the credit card that gives me rewards or automatically deducted from my checking.

  3. M E 2 Says:
    May 30th, 2011 at 01:33 am 1306719206
    1306719206



    WOW! There are places (other than "Mayberry" types) that don't let you pay your property taxes online? I consider my city to be somewhat bassackward about alot of things but I can pay my property taxes without writing a check.

  4. marvholly Says:
    May 30th, 2011 at 09:51 am 1306749073
    1306749073

    there are a handful of things I stil do use checks for. Around here the convience fees for my auto license plates, auto town sticker, real estate taxes, water/sewer bill, health insurance (I am on COBRA)would amount to an extra 10%. That is $60 on my real estate taxes alone.

  5. frugaltexan75 Says:
    June 1st, 2011 at 04:26 am 1306902405
    1306902405

    I don't have any physical checks, but there have been 3? times in the last two years where I needed one. 2x it was to pay the registration fee for a professional development lecture, and the 3rd time it was to pay for my initiation fee for Beta Phi Mu. All 3 of those times I just gave money to someone else, and they wrote a check.

    Otherwise I use ING's checks - mainly for rent.

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