Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The Great Cash Free Challenge concludes

So as of yesterday at noon, I have resigned from the Great Cash Free Challenge. I will be attending a beer event tonight that will take $10 cash to participate. Instead of insisting on paying with a check (perhaps a strain on the organizers), having someone cover me (against the spirit of the competition), or just omitting the detail (how could I face myself in the morning?), I've decided to end it here. That put it at exactly two weeks. We've learned a few things:

1) A cash-free life is entirely feasible and, if you are content in a routine, you could manage for yourself a routine that involves never using cash.

2) Parking in Morgantown without heeding meters was not as costly as I anticipated it; perhaps when students are out for the summer the heat pays less attention? I only received one parking ticket over the two weeks, and even that was a ticket I would have received had I been using cash (wasn't a meter issue, was a restricted lot issue).

3) I still nonetheless found myself carrying cash; perhaps that is as big a statement as any.

Many thanks to the adjudication of Rob Holub in interpreting and enforcing the rules; a model justice, indeed, one worthy of the omnipotent, even-handed and non-self-motivated assumptions of the 1960s.

So what's the next challenge? In the words of the Simpsons' Lord Daftwager, "Don't worry, we'll find other wagers!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why not try "The Great Credit Card Free Challenge," Matt? I'd like to see you try to go two weeks without using a credit card!