Money comes in both paper and plastic these days

The question of paper or plastic doesnt apply to grocery bags exclusively.

Paper money is having some competition with plastic, in the way of credit cards, ATM cards and debit cards .

And many checkbooks are being shelved, giving way to online banking .

Yes, the financial world is seeing paper currency as a preferred method wrestle with the attraction of more high-tech transactions.

There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to electronic methods of exchanging money.

Many have tried it, loved it and wouldnt go back to physically writing checks and sending them through the snail mail.

These types wonder how they survived before online banking was offered, it simplifies their lives and they rave about it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the tactile types or the control freaks, pick your descriptive term.

Essentially, they want to write their checks and send them through the mail.

Its just the way they have always done it and they dont trust those electronic gizmos, no matter how safe or convenient folks say it is.

This mentality is reminiscent of the ‘angry old man skit from vintage Saturday Night Live routines.

‘Thats the way it was .... and we liked it’ angry old man used to say.

However, there can be pitfalls either way.

While debit cards may be convenient instead of holding up the grocery line when writing checks or pulling out money, its not for the less detailed members of the human race.

Misplace a receipt from your debit card, therefore not recording the transaction?

It makes for a mess, unless you rely on the online banking records to save your keister.

But then again if you write checks and forget to log the entries, it can be just as troublesome, barring carbon copy checks.

Having two people on the same account and two ATM or debit cards can make for a financial fiasco as well, particularly if theres not some conversation between the two debit card holders.

Same can be said for a two-checkbook household, its the old the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing scenario.

Communication is the key to any successful joint banking venture, regardless of whether the banking is done online or the old fashioned way.

And even single-named accounts need some maintenance in recording transactions.

Whether paper or paperless, banking can be painless with a few preventative measures.

Figure it out.