A Day Without Credit & Mobile Phones. Follow Our Saturday As We Reduce Our Use Of Plastic Money & Leave Our Phones At Home: Includes An Update On Us Breaking In Our Horse!

After my experience last night with big brother, today we decided to enjoy our day using cash alone & also just ditch our phones for the day. We wanted to be a little "off the grid".

So first on our list today was to buy more hay for the horses. There's a bit of a drought here at the moment and the paddocks are almost bare so the horses need lots of supplimentation. We hooked up the float and drove to our local produce place (phones left at home, my wife and I were together so who else would we want to contact anyway?)

When we got to the produce store we learned that round bales are in short supply currently. The lack of water around Brisbane at the moment is limiting the farmers' ability to produce. Prices were a little higher as a result but as we were told that what they currently had in stock was all they could source for now, we decided to buy 2 round bales so that we're not caught out by no supply.

The bales were $120 each and we also picked up a 20kg bag of horse pellets at $28. I'm always prepared with cash in my wallet for unforseen circumstances so we were able to pay the $268 in cash. We took the opportunity to have a great chat with the ladies behind the counter. We asked if anyone pays cash anymore and they firmly replied no! Apparently it's very rare. What a shame. With the war on cash gearing up we should be exercising this right more often.

So we drove home and had some fun unloading the round bales.

...and boy did we have fun rolling those bales into the shipping container. Yes I even jumped on top of one and tried to run around on it! Here's a video defloating one

What a tease for the onlooking horses!

With that all squared away, we headed to the shops. I no longer want to use my phone for a work alarm in the bedroom so I wanted to get a new battery for my G-shock watch and use that for a daily alarm. That was $48.25 which we paid in cash. We asked the Mr Minit guy how common cash payments were at his store. Apparently it's more common for him than the produce store but people tend to ask for cash discounts which he sometimes can manage. The CBA provides his EFTPOS terminal at some ridiculous fee. In the order of hundreds of dollars a month. He says the terminal always breaks down and the bank support is woeful. Sounds about right.

Then we treated ourself to two boost juices coming to $16.20 (yes, for two drinks!) and then headed to woollies for some supplies. Some SPAM, 2 battery powered LED torches for our prepping supplies, some ironing starch, aluminum foil, loo paper and stock. Totalling $35.27 which we paid for in cash. Our change enlightened us to the fact that there's a new $2 coin in circulation. I've not used cash in so long that I'd not realised the currency had "moved on"!

Then it was to the pharmacy for some medical supplies at $24.80. Paid again in cash. I asked the same question of the cashier lady and she replied that it was very rare to see cash payments now.

Lastly some more protein power in a big tub for half price, $109.95 and a 20kg bag of carrots for the horses at $8. On the way home we filled up the car and our 3 jerry cans with fuel (the latter for our prepping supplies). Again all in cash so as to leave no electronic trail.

All successfully accomplished without a card and without a phone. Felt richer for the old school experience!

When we got home we prepared to float our horses to the riding trails for an afternoon with our friends.

It was a glorious afternoon of riding (and I'd brought the phone along this time just to snap a few pictures. It then got turned off again and put back in the car for the duration of the ride. The big news here was that our young mare who we are breaking in wore a roller for the first time. A roller is a strap that simulates the feel of a girth without having to put a saddle on. As we're breaking in this mare we felt it was time to try her with one. She took to it brilliantly, not bothered at all. In fact she did half the walk wearing it. We are really happy with that result!

And what better way to finish the day than with a home BBQ in front of a fire with our riding friends?

Thanks for sharing our day!