The Total Of My Sense

Continued the July Fourth tradition and dumped the coin jar. Just finished counting it all out.

My booty fell short of the goal I set last year. The jump was just under 30 percent (29.97) from last year's total. The goal for 2008 is for another 30 percent gain.

It's getting tougher to gather that loose change. I'm having fewer and fewer cash transactions. It's the debit card for everything -- $3.93 at McDonald's, $100 at Price Chopper, and anything and everything in between. Except for gasoline (even though it is an urban legend) and a few other places that do authorizations for more than the purchase and then settle up later.

Just two or three years ago the checking account statement would arrive and there would be two or three pages of the little cancelled check copies. Now there's only five or so checks a month. And yes, I still get a printed copy of my check statement delivered via U.S. Mail.

I used to be anti-debit card. I saw them as a bank's ploy to issue secured credit cards. My opinion hasn't changed, but the cards have become so common. Where would I be without one? Interesting how quickly our minds can change and determine that some things just make sense. It will be interesting to see how the debit-like credit cards that Wal-Mart or H & R Block's bank plan to lower-income folks will work.

Here's to hoping that your celebration for the Fourth of July was splendid.