Change

I don't carry cash.

I have a checkbook and a debit card, and have had for years.

Because I used to carry cash.  Everywhere.

When I was in Junior High and High School, my parents would give me enough money on Monday to buy my lunches for the week. And so I would - only probably not like they had planned.

I spent as little as possible, you see.  I determined fairly early on how little I needed to keep going.  So I would have a pepperoni stick and a soft pretzel with cheese. Every day.

I'm a bit of a creature of habit.

It was much less, I think, than my parents expected me to eat for lunch. But that's beside the point.

These purchases didn't add up to an even dollar amount.  If I remember correctly, it was $1.15 for my lunch.

The first day, I'd have $20.  The second day, I'd have three fives, three ones, and eighty-five cents in change.  The third day, I'd have three fives, one one, and a dollar seventy in change.

Every week, my change would add up and add up until it got in the way.  Because it was faster to grab two ones than it was to count out the change.

I'm a man.  We keep things in our pockets. Because we can. 


Side note: Apparently women can't.  Pockets in women's jeans really suck. I suspect that it's one reason they carry purses.

in high school, I kept at least one pen and one mechanical pencil in my pockets.  And a small notebook.  Generally, I also had one or more dice in my pockets, too.  It was useful, because you never knew when you would stumble into a pick-up game of ... um ... Dungeons & Dragons. Not that I ever did.

Either way, I had limited pocket space.

By the end of the week, I would be very annoyed, because I would have pockets full of change, and no room for my pen. Or some of my dice would have escaped and were now lost forever. And my pants would weigh more and more as the week went on, which also annoyed me.

So I stopped carrying cash regularly.  I understand that cash is an essential at times. I realize I should probably keep around $20 in my wallet for emergencies - but I just don't want to run the risk of filling up with change, again.

Because it's too easy to overlook until it's taken over.