Not everyone learns how to manage money properly/appropriately/at all. Some folks never get enough of it to manage. I--for example--have very little (or few?) dealings with what I used to call 'cash money'. In fact, I carry what little I have in an old coffee tin in my nap sack. I use it when I'm in one of those grocery stores that offers self-check check out. I follow the instructions and get rid of the coins first. (I don't usually shop at peak hours so it's not like I'm bugging anyone who is in a rush to get out of the store). I do have some credit cards that I have acquired along the way. As long as they don't come with membership fees, I keep them. There is some sort of magic that is produced in those pesky credit reports based on how old your plastic is. I keep two gas station cards, two or three bank issued cards, and no store cards. My checking accounts (spread out across the map) have debit cards attached to them. Few are used. Yes, I still write checks. I have treated my checking accounts with the same level of superstition as the credit cards. I don't close them as long as they don't charge me for keeping them. I check credit reports at Credit Karma dot com. It's free and it doesn't affect a person's score. Not everyone is cool about having his/her/their/its personal identification numbers or information OUT THERE... but sometimes if the tools are worthy and have decent integrity, that can be a good thing. That's about the long and the short of it for me. If anyone has notions about finances for the hippie, please feel free to chime in.
