Debit Card, Credit Card or Cash - Which?

I'm sure you know by now that I'm a retired old fart here in the Big Town of Savage in the middle of the Diverse State of Maryland (Governor O'Malley's term). Typically, older folks are slow to change in almost any area of their life.

I still wear old style clothes and continue to drive my GMC trucks and use recipes that I've had in the ol' cookbook since my married days. I'm also a cash kinda guy at stores.

One of my old habits was to write checks for significant purchases of consumables when I purchased most of them at grocery stores. I always used a credit card to purchase fuel for the vehicles (typically it was similar bill from month to month). If I was going to make a major purchase (appliance, etc.) I would charge it on my other credit card to simplify possible return of the item.

Then along came Costco and Sam's Club where I now purchase all major consumables. They are always pretty quick at processing checks, but when there is a significant amount to be paid, often a manager would have to sign off on the check. That didn't happen too often, but it did happen.

I noticed these nice people in front of me just swiped a card thru the reader, poked in a number and the clerk poked a button, and it was over. They had their receipt and headed out the door. I found out that it was a debit card. As I mentioned, I'm slow to change. But, after watching this for a year or so, I decided to give it a shot. A couple of years ago I had my favorite credit union provide me a debit card.

I gotta say, I'm outta Sam's and Costco before I know what hit me now. I'm also one of those guys that visits his bank account each day via the internet banking. So I'm always up on balances and it's my nature to not overdo withdrawals.

Since having the debit card my shopping paradigm has changed to the extent that I use the debit card at Sam's and Costco vice writing checks. I've not gotten to the point where I'm comfortable using the thing for all my minor purchases or grocery store visits. So, the cash and credit card portions of my spending paradigm are still intact.

I was reminded of this earlier today when I made my end of month visit to the credit union to replenish my supply of wallet cash. I was kidding the young teller about needing cash to do some shopping. I suggested that he probably uses his debit card for everything. He quickly indicated that he seldom carries any cash at all.

Once again I'm the guy that holds up the line at the grocery store while I count out the correct bills and change to pay my tab. The person behind is just shaking his head wondering why I don't just use my debit card!!!

And how do you pay for all your purchases? Ponder it,
JD

PS - I've noticed that using cash for minor purchases also helps me keep an eye on my spending total for small items...that's a handy thing to know and helps me refrain from running over budget each month. You probably realize that most of us retired folks only get paid once a month...