The "difficulties" of cash

As many of you know, we adopted an all-cash lifestyle about ten years ago. It's helped us stay within our budget and not overspend. We've never regretted the decision, and frankly don't give it much thought anymore. It's just second nature.

But many consider an all-cash lifestyle to be backwards and primitive, akin to navigating a city with a paper map (which, since we don't have smart phones, we still do). "Gosh, you use cash? Why? Isn't that inconvenient when compared to a credit card?"

That's why I chuckled when I came across an article entitled "Is it Possible to Live Without Credit Cards, Debit Cards, and Cash Apps?"

Possible, this article asks? Oh please.

The article starts out listing the benefits of using cash, up to and including times when the regional power grid is knocked out (such as the aftermath of hurricanes or other natural disasters). But then it delves into the difficulties of paying for housing (rent or mortgage), utilities, transportation, hotels, and airline tickets with cash. "The world has become increasingly organized around cards, chips, and payment apps," the article states. "Can you actually live cash-only in today’s world?"

To an extent, this article is correct. When I say we live an "all-cash" lifestyle, that isn't entirely accurate. We pay certain bills through the mail with checks (local utilities are paid in cash). We seldom fly or stay in hotels, but on the rare occasions we do, we use our credit card.

But for everyday transactions, it's cash all the way. Cash is anonymous. It doesn't leave little cyber-trails everywhere we go, like a credit or debit card or a "cash app" (whatever that is).

Why is cash considered controversial? It's not that hard. Yet over and over again, an all-cash lifestyle is looked upon as shocking and difficult. Most money-management articles downright discourage it.

In fact, the "discouragement" part is interesting. It's almost like a digital lifestyle is not just actively encouraged, but many times transactions using cash are made difficult or impossible. Why?

The answer, I believe, is we're being groomed to adopt a digital currency at some point. Cyber-money, we are told, is the currency of the future, a solution to problems we never knew we had. Digital currency is being touted as far more efficient, easy, environmentally beneficial, and even more sanitary than fiat currency. What's not to love? (/sarc/)

Of course, digital currency would be vulnerable to hacking, technological glitches, and power outages. Any hiccup in the system would mean your funds are not available "at this time." But hey, what's a little inconvenience when compared to all the benefits?

As for that primitive all-cash lifestyle, the article concludes: "Final verdict: You sure can live a cash-only life. But it comes with some serious downsides you’ll have to take into consideration."

Yeah, no. After ten years of a (mostly) all-cash lifestyle, I can testify the benefits far outweigh any potential detriments.

So until digital currency becomes mandatory, it's all cash for us.