Wednesday, 15 April 2020

The Death of Cash? & A Great Book...

Yesterday, for the first time in weeks , I needed to leave the house to visit the pharmacy for something.  I felt strangely apprehensive. I recognised that the feeling deep in my gut was fear...fear!  of going shopping? Never before in my whole life have I felt that.  I drove the short distance to the village, parked up (it's now free to park until 1st July so that no-one has to touch the machine I guess) and walked the rest of the way to the pharmacy, combining my daily exercise with a necessary task.  Although there seemed to be a lot of people around and dozens queuing for the bank and the food shops, the pharmacy contained just one customer and an assistant who was wearing a mask, gloves and standing behind a glass screen.  She placed my items on the counter, I paid with my contactless debit card, picked up my items, thanked her and left.  Phew....that wasn't so bad.  I took my courage in both hands, crossed the road to Superdrug where there were just 3 customers inside, picked up the very last hand wash on the shelf and went to pay.  I was amazed and very happy to find that they had hand sanitiser right by the till.  The assistant was wearing gloves and also behind a glass screen.  I made another contactless payment, thanked her and left, taking the long route to walk back to the car.  Once inside it I used the hand sanitiser and heaved a sigh of relief.

Is this going to be the way of things for the foreseeable future?  Are we going to become a cashless society?  

I have always found budgeting much easier if I can withdraw the week's food money in cash and only spent that amount.  At the moment, everything is paid for online with a card and I'm beginning to lose track of our spending.
How are you coping with budgeting at the moment?

Long before the virus I intended to make a bucket list and tick things off as they were achieved.  I even bought an appropriate notebook.   Fat chance now!  The notebook has been utilised for meal planning so it's easy to see how my focus has changed ...lol...




I love my ruler showing 'British History Rulers' in other words the Kings in order.  Why, oh why, didn't I have this when I was at school.  Although I love tales of history I have a mental block when it comes to remembering the detail so I dropped the subject in favour of languages.....



Like many others I have been reading more and have just finished this Alan Titchmarsh novel The Scarlet Nightingale about a young English girl who worked with the French resistance during WW2.  I loved it...


Gratitudes

For a successful pharmacy visit
For yet another lovely sunny day
For followers who don't mind reading my ramblings (Welcome to Marlene)
For receiving 3 lovely phone calls yesterday which cheered me up no end :)

Stay safe everyone, wherever in the world you happen to be x

26 comments:

  1. Hi Angie I like you prefer to have cash, it's a right pain isn't it.
    There just seems no end in sight with this awful virus☹️. Xx

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    1. I think that's why this awful situation is getting us all down, Marlene, we have no idea how or when this lockdown will end. Stay safe x

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  2. This week for the 1st time we paid full price for our preferred butter and olive oil spread, I have noticed the prices rising on other things.

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    1. Yes, everything is going up in price on a daily basis. I think we might all have blown our budgets by the time this ends. Stay safe x

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  3. I've been doing paperless shopping for a few months now and make certain to write down the amount of any purchase in a log book I keep. Otherwise I would have no idea how much I spent on groceries.

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    1. Yes, I think I need to get into the habit of writing down any purchases as soon as I make them too. I'm losing the plot!

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  4. I've got that ruler too - I have been using it this very morning [to draw lines, not to revise the dates of Royalty] I've got to start logging purchases. Three weeks of not going out, then discovering shopping was a completely different experience has "done my head in"! as the kids say.

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    1. Oooh, same Christian name...same ruler! I know what you mean, Angela, it's 'doing my head in' too :)

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  5. I gave my purse and handbag contents a wipe over today and realised I hadn’t even used them out of the house for 3 weeks. I think I am spending more but I don’t want to go to the shops. I like using cash but won’t be going to cash machine or the bank for a while. I suppose we must get used to this for now.

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  6. I must remember your third in the list of gratitude when I do my Saturday Being Grateful list - it made me smile.
    I felt the same as you about shopping when I went on Monday last week - fear - it was horrible. My next shop will be Wednesday next week when I run out of apples.

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    1. Who would ever have guessed that we would become afraid to shop. Stay well x

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  7. I must admit I would rather use cash but I do understand the reasons behind it. We have been jotting the amounts used on the card so we can keep track. Take care.

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    1. Yes, I can see the sense in it, MM, but I can just imagine people coming unstuck with their budgets. Stay safe x

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  8. I am just getting used to going out for the groceries since lockdown. One way system in Tesco...in through one door...out through another...wait to be invited to a till...I felt very apprehensive the first time I went out in the car after self isolating. x

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    1. I think it's quite frightening, I must admit...

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  9. I much prefer cash but now I'm shopping every 2-3 weeks its not too bad. I agree I think we will be social distancing for some while. The government are now worried we won't leave our home once its all over. But I think as the older generation we will be more tentative.

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    1. I think you're right, Tania, our generation will be tentative when the time comes to go out on a whim once more. Things seem to have changed forever.

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  10. Fear of going shopping, I am with you. That is good you had a safe experience. I haven't been in a store in 30 days, I wonder how I will react when we get the all clear to go out again? It is a good idea to use cash at times because it is not traceable; i.e. stores, the government, etc. don't know what you buy when you use cash.

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    1. I hadn't thought of that, Terra, that everything we buy is now traceable through card payments. Another scary thought. Big brother is watching us!

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  11. I use my credit card, but pay it off immediately. My card gives us money back once a year which is why I use it.

    I still shop once a week and do all my banking or other errands that day as well. One day struggling to find what I need is enough for this lady.

    God bless.

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    1. Yes, Jackie, one foray was enough for me too. What have we come to...stay safe my lovely x

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  12. Whilst I’m very happy to use contactless during this time, I shall go back to cash once it’s over. I have a book which I write all card transactions in, as well as cash point transactions (but not at the moment obviously) to keep track.

    I did feel very scared when I first went into a supermarket. So much so that I now get a delivery from a local company with local goods for most stuff and a trip to a decent sized farm shop for the rest. It’s more expensive, but there’s far less people and I’m supporting the local economy.

    I have that wooden ruler, I use it regularly:)

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    1. Well done you for buying local goods. I wish we had a good farmshop close by too. Yay to the smashing ruler! I love mine. Stay safe x

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  13. It's strange that feeling of impending doom as you drive towards the shops isn't it, I found myself exactly the same last week when we went to Tesco. The journey home on the other hand was lovely and relaxing, and never have I been so pleased to close our gates to the world again.

    I had that same ruler until a couple of years ago, I was really upset to lose it, it came in so handy ... and yes it would have been great at school, although I doubt they would have let me take it into the history exam ;-)

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    1. I'm glad it's not just me feeling that way. Madness isn't it...

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