cash is king

One of the things about living in Bosnia that is taking a little adjusting to is the need to use cash to pay for almost everything. Very few places accept credit or debit cards and paying your bills via the Internet - the concept is so far removed from here that you don't even ask.

This has two effects. The first is that I occasionally find myself walking around with a lot of cash on me to pay something specific. Today it was the car insurance. That is right, a major Bosnian insurance company required us to pay for annual car insurance up front and in cash. There was no other option available.

The second is that I am really noticing the amount of money we spend. Rather than just hand over the card and away you go, now we need to go to the cash point and withdraw the actual notes before physically handing them over. It is a lot more frightening this way.