Here and There: Paying Bills

THERE, I happily wrote checks each month to pay my bills.  I find something highly satisfying about writing checks, sealing envelopes, and putting stamps on them.  Of course, there takes a bit of planning to ensure that all of the payments arrive in time.  I've had a couple of "Whoops!  That's due in two days!  Will the post office deliver it in time?" moments over the years. We had been moving more toward online bill payment, but something still seemed too unreal about pressing a button to transfer money.  I'm pretty wary of the security of online banking, too.  B rarely dealt with cash, but I used it pretty regularly for the "extras" so that I could maintain our budget.  By "extras" I mean yarn.

HERE, bills are paid in cash every two months.  B takes cash to to Post Office down the street to pay our electricity bill, which inevitably means standing in a long line.  There's a small fee attached because he's taking advantage of the convenience of paying at the Post Office.  The alternative would be to go to the actual electric company office, which is in a different neighborhood.  B pays our phone and internet bill, also in cash, at the phone company office a few blocks away.  He pays our rent in cash to our landlord, who lives two floors above us.  To deposit his paycheck, he has two options.   He may deposit the check in our bank and wait a few days for it to clear, or cash the check at the bank of issue, and then take the cash to our bank to deposit it.  We're not entirely sure if the majority of the people here pay bills in the same way, but we've been lead to believe this is so.  Honestly, despite the hassle, paying everything in cash definitely helps us to maintain a budget.

(In case you can't tell, I love it.  But then, I am not traipsing to every office to deal with our money.)