It seems to be a widely accepted concept that credit cards are causing us to be poor spenders, but could it be that this so-called irresponsibility of credit cards is simply an issue for those who grew up using hard cash instead of hard plastic? ... In our money management system, the dollars that count are the ones that show up in our bank and credit accounts. When we do our month-end reconciliation, we don’t count how much cash we have on hand. ... I feel that cash is dirty and I want to get rid of it. I noticed this the last time I was at the farmer’s market (where I have to pay cash) – I saw how much money I had and kept adding pieces of produce to my purchase until I had spent as closely as I could to the amount of cash I had on me. I never do that with plastic spending at the grocery store – I just buy what I need and don’t try to increase or decrease the amount of the overall purchase.