Surviving Without Checks

I ran out of checks several months ago. You know...the personal paper things that you physically tear from a tangible checkbook.

I haven't replaced them since.

Why, you ask? Two reasons, really.

1. I'm hypothosizing that they are unnecessary and, thus, are a deletable expense.

2. I wanted to see if I could really survive without them (gotta put a little spice in my life).

So far so good. Sure, there have been times when I really wished I'd had some checks...like at Christmas time, when I wanted to send my out-of-state nieces and nephews a gift. I knew sending cash was not smart and, to me, sending gift cards seemed equally risky. I wound up ordering them books from Barnes & Noble, because, hey, books are always good gifts and they were shipped free.

When the Girls Scouts came around seeking payment for their cookies, I cursed myself for not being better prepared. In one case, I put off the delivery, because I had no cash on hand. (Oh, why don't they take credit and debit cards, I found myself wishing, along with, why doesn't my family stay away from the cash in my wallet?) In another case, my husband accepted the baked goods with a promise that I'd run to the bank for cash and deliver to the girls later (which I did, by the way...you can't cheat good little samaritans, especially when they live next door).

So, how have I been handling all my other payments? On-line banking. It really is so convenient...the bank writes the checks for you, stuffs them in envelopes, and picks up the expense to mail them. My service is free, but I can imagine it would still be cost effective, even paying a small monthly charge.

For all other transactions, I pay cash or use my debit or credit card. It isn't all that bad being checkless. I have a friend who finds herself in the same situation and she's doing fine, too.

My banker just let me know that I am entitled to free checks with my account, but, you know, I think I'm going to pass. I'll let you know how things turn out....

How about you? Do you write many checks nowadays? Could you survive without them?

Easy Gardening: Just Throw the Darn Seeds Out There

Those are the words of my dear friend Kerensa. And, it's exactly how she gardens.

Her yard is ab-so-lutely magical. With railroad ties, rocks and tons of colorful, water-loving plants, the woman even makes her front ditch* look like she wanted it there all along. Her father was a landscaper. I figure she knows what she's talking about.

I, on the other hand, am known to kill every indoor plant I've ever had. I'm forever defending myself against such charges from my husband. "I keep children alive, not plants," I contest with my head held high. My front ditch had cat tails in it for years.

So, naturally, I wanted to heed Kerensa's advice.

Not because I didn't trust her completely, but because I just invested a small fortune in seed packs, I conducted my own quasi, so-not-an-expert experiment first.  Here are my completely non-scientific results: 

Scenario 1: Just as I've always done, I nursed the baby seedlings growing on my sunny window sills since the beginning of spring. After all danger of frost had passed, I transplanted them all to the garden area in my backyard, watered, and treated as usual. 

Scenario 2: I took the extra seeds (and I always have them...they give you so many...you can't possibly use them unless your entire yard is a farm) and scattered them in somewhat organized fashion in a dirt patch just outside my kitchen door. I watered them and treated them as I did my other green offspring. 


Results:  Wouldn't you know it? Hands down, the darn scattered seeds from Scenario 2 outperformed the pampered, window-hogging, messy seedlings from Scenario 1!

So, there you have it.

All I know, and it's not much, is I like to avoid wasting time. If I don't have to invest time, energy, and space on my window sills to get great produce from the garden, I won't. It's Easy Street for me. I'll take that route anytime.

How 'bout you? Do you tend to take Easy Street or Proper Place? Do you garden? Do you have your own experiment to share or one you'd like me to conduct? Do you just throw the darn seeds out there? 

* A front ditch is an unattractive path--sometimes filled with stone, sometimes covered by grass--carved into the front yards of all those homes in our community without sewers. It guides run-off water to a reservoir, which in my case, is a small lake, from which no one eats the fish.