What I Learned From Living Two Months Without Cash

 What I Learned From Living Two Months Without Cash

Does Using Cash Lead You To Spend More or Less?

It all ended a few days ago, when I withdrew $120 from an ATM in the bodega on my corner. Two months of living cashlessly came to a close with that simple act. I plunked a $20 on the counter, bought a $1.50 soda—take that, $5 credit card minimum—and walked away with a sheaf of bills and a couple of quarters jingling¹ in my pocket.

Life has admittedly been easier since then. I ordered without fear at the cash-only German beer hall in my neighborhood. I split a bar tab with friends and, for the first time in a while, didn’t make myself a nuisance.

I previously² wrote about my yearning³ to again feel physical cash in my palms and on my fingertips. But after a short-lived rush I got from yanking those crinkly greenbacks out of the ATM, the excitement dissipated. And I’ve since been reminded how much I detest⁴ loose change. Especially nickels and pennies—which, by the way, cost twice as much to mint as they are worth. (I do derive⁵ some tactile⁶ joy from those big, gold-colored Sacagawea dollars you so rarely encounter, and from the squat⁷, heavy pound coins I’ve used in Britain. There’s something throwback-y in their substantive⁸ weight and respectable buying power. I feel like I’m in an 1800s saloon when I purchase a pint⁹ by clinking a stack of metal down on an oak bar.)

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the course of this experiment, it’s that we are millimeters from being able to go cashless as a society. I think we’ll be there within 5 to 10 years—we’ll have figured out how to tip bellhops, for instance, by pointing our phones at their nametags or something. All but the very poorest in developed nations will have cell phones, and those phones will provide seamless methods for transferring money between individuals.

Yes, giant companies will take a bite out of these transfers, and that sucks. We can hope that consumer demand creates cashless technology with lower transaction tolls¹⁰. On the flip¹¹ side, though, consider that my ATM withdrawal¹² incurred¹³ a $1.50 fee from the bodega and a $2fee from my too-big-to-fail bank. Granted, I could have walked 12 minutes to the nearest no-fee ATM, but I didn’t have time. (Spare me, credit union fanboys and fangirls. I know you’re right, I should make the switch. I will some day. But it’s a hassle, and I’d have to redo all my electronic billing and direct deposit settings.)

One thing I won’t miss if the world goes cashless is abetting¹⁴ tax evasion¹⁵. I hired a housepainter a while back to spruce up the walls of my apartment, and once the work was done he insisted I pay him in cash—mentioning that he “got hit with a big tax bill last year.” So now I’m complicit in ripping off Uncle Sam, which feels unpatriotic.

David Wolman, author of The End of Money, executed this stunt¹⁶ way before I did and for much longer—a full year of living cashlessly. I called him up to compare notes. He says he encountered daily, silly hassles similar to the ones that tripped me up. He couldn’t buy anything at the farmer’s market. He had trouble paying a babysitter (he couldn’t convince her father to open a PayPal account on the fly). He’d drive around in search of parking meters that accepted credit cards.

The real eye opener came when he traveled to India. “There was just no way to live cashlessly there,” he says, “unless I hired a limo from the airport and then never left my hotel room.” But that sort of thing can change very quickly. Today, it’s food trucks in Brooklyn using Square readers. Tomorrow, it’s streetcart vendors¹⁷ in Mumbai.

To demonstrate how far we’ve come on the path to cashlessness in the developed world, Wolman imagines trying the reverse experiment: living only with cash, and using no credit cards, checks, or electronic payments. “Try paying your mortgage and all your bills in cash every month,” he suggests. “It would shed some light on the hidden hassles and costs of cash. It’s a real time suck.”

Yet despite its inconveniences, cash still has legions of defenders¹⁸. “We’ve pushed it to the periphery¹⁹ of our experience,” says Wolman. “But if you talk about giving it that final push off the cliff, you get tremendous backlash. People have emotional attachments²⁰ to these slips of paper and little metal rounds.”

One question I got a lot in the course of my cashless interlude was whether my spending habits changed. Some folks swear by spending only cash because they “feel the pain more” than they do when they swipe a credit card. (Wolman says economists²¹ refer to this as “the salience of the form.”) It makes sense that people would want to avoid credit card debt in the simplest manner possible: by limiting their use of credit cards.

But my spending experience was the opposite. Those $20 bills seem to just float themselves away when I’m out on the town, while signing a credit card slip reminds me that I’ve contracted to fulfill²² a dead serious monetary²³ obligation. I can also keep track of precisely²⁴ what I’m spending my money on when I use a credit card and can even download that information into a budgeting program like Mint to analyze²⁵ my outlay²⁶. Cash offers no such helpful record. (And let’s not forget those loyalty²⁷ points. I buy most of my Christmas presents every year with the rewards from my Chase Amazon Visa.)

For now, I’m pleased to have cash back in my life, solely²⁸ because it makes my daily routine easier. But I won’t miss cash when it’s gone. And I doubt you will, either.

1 jingling   

叮当声

参考例句：

• A carriage went jingling by with some reclining figure in it. 一辆马车叮当驶过，车上斜倚着一个人。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Melanie did not seem to know, or care, that life was riding by with jingling spurs. 媚兰好像并不知道，或者不关心，生活正马刺丁当地一路驶过去了呢。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

4 detest   

vt.痛恨，憎恶

参考例句：

• I detest people who tell lies.我恨说谎的人。
• The workers detest his overbearing manner.工人们很讨厌他那盛气凌人的态度。

5 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

6 tactile   

adj.触觉的，有触觉的，能触知的

参考例句：

• Norris is an expert in the tactile and the tangible.诺里斯创作最精到之处便是，他描绘的人物使人看得见摸得着。
• Tactile communication uses touch rather than sight or hearing.触觉交流，是用触摸感觉，而不是用看或听来感觉。

7 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

8 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

9 pint   

n.品脱

参考例句：

• I'll have a pint of beer and a packet of crisps, please.我要一品脱啤酒和一袋炸马铃薯片。
• In the old days you could get a pint of beer for a shilling.从前，花一先令就可以买到一品脱啤酒。

10 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

11 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

12 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

13 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

14 abetting   

v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的现在分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持

参考例句：

• On Earth, unknowingly abetting a criminal doesn't merit this kind of punishment. 在地球上，不知不觉地帮助罪犯并不构成这种惩罚。 来自电影对白
• "By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder." 援助和唆使谋杀的塔利班政权与杀人犯同罪。 来自互联网

15 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

16 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

17 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

18 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

20 attachments   

n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物

参考例句：

• The vacuum cleaner has four different attachments. 吸尘器有四个不同的附件。
• It's an electric drill with a range of different attachments. 这是一个带有各种配件的电钻。

21 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

23 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

24 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

25 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

26 outlay   

n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费

参考例句：

• There was very little outlay on new machinery.添置新机器的开支微乎其微。
• The outlay seems to bear no relation to the object aimed at.这费用似乎和预期目的完全不相称。

27 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

28 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。