# 308: Cash Call
A cash call wake up for me, The Weavers and a book about them, plus Dorie's World Peace Cookies.
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Cashing In
I’ve decided to use cash whenever possible and support my local businesses. I’m a fairly frugal person so when I go to the cash machine I figure $100 will be enough to see me through the week I’m astounded to learn how much I spend in one day!
Reimburse a friend for my favorite tea which she has picked up for me in Victoria BC ($20)
Buy Bosco a Bark Ranger scarf at the Olympic National Park Headquarters to wear to the demonstration in support of park rangers on Saturday ($10)
Two bags of dog training treats at the local pet store ($25)
One 22 ounce jar of local honey ($25)
This leaves me with $20 which is not even enough to fill my car with gas.
Yes, I realize I’m still harboring a 1970s mind set when I worked in The Pyramid in San Francisco and alloting myself $5 a week for extras and many weeks not spending it all. The next night at Sunday supper D&O tell me that $80 is like $5 used to be.
What I learn by doing this is that when using my credit card to pay for things, I don’t keep current on how much I am spending—not like I did when paying by check and always updating the checkbook ledger before leaving the store.
Now, when I see the total due at the end of the credit card billing cycle I wonder how is this even possible? I don’t go to movies. I use the library. I don’t go to restaurants. I don’t have subscriptions to cable or streaming services. My online statement shows I use my credit card for food, gas, insurance, cell phone, internet, utility bills…and supporting a few writers here on Substack which I sure wish I could do more of!
Shopping local and using cash whenever possible is a way to help keep independent stores alive and makes me aware of how much of these hard earned bucks I’m spending. Cash and local is what I’m doing. What about you?
What I’m Listening To
The Strangest Dream
Ed McCurdy wrote this song in 1950.1 Here is it sung by Pete Seeger and The Weavers.
On My Reading List
Wasn't That a Time: The Weavers, the Blacklist, and the Battle for the Soul of America by Jesse Jarnow
From the publisher: The untold story of the Weavers, the hit-making folk-pop quartet destroyed with the aid of the United States government -- and who changed the world, anyway.
Recipe for Today
Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies
Making and sharing cookies is always a good idea. These cookies are a favorite of many and I well remember when she and her son Joshua were doing Cookie Bar pop-ups in NYC. Here’s the link to Dorie’s fabulous Substack Newsletter, too.
Nice Things To Do
Something that you can do for me is to heart ❤️ this post. It not only lets me know that you are stopping by but this really helps my ratings on Substack, too. Thank you!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Night_I_Had_the_Strangest_Dream
Interesting how we all differ in methods. My husband uses almost all cash. I pretty much go all digital. I rarely use cash, and don’t like pulling out my wallet in lines where everyone can have a peek at what’s in there. I can also keep track of my spending better by seeing it all on my digital platforms (I check them daily), but I can never seem to remember what I spent my cash on in any given day! And when I ask my husband what he spent his hard earned cash on, I usually get a blank stare before he goes to the car and brings back a tangle of crumpled up receipts dated anywhere from two years ago to today!
a few decades ago, after retirement (3rd time) my husband and I kept a quicken account and entered EVERY penny spent so we could see where it all went. The joke was that we even entered a dime found on the sidewalk for the credit column. It has been brilliant for us but means we always ask for a receipt so we can put the amount in the app. It works for us!