A toy my 3-year-old plays with quite often opened my eyes, recently. It's a cash register complete with bills and coins... and a credit card.

A credit card?

She's 3!

But it really made me think.

It’s so easy just to whip out plastic, isn’t it?

How many cards are in your wallet?

We’re so addicted to them. So much so that people who still write checks or use cash are portrayed in commercials as the ones to despise. They slow down the rest of us!

It’s all about “swipe and go.”

There was a time when $20 could last me a long time. Whenever I spent any of that money, I felt it.

Not anymore.

I swipe and go.

Need groceries?

Swipe and go.

Low on gas?

Swipe and go.

Crave a coffee?

Swipe and go!

Cash? Who has time to go to the ATM?

And if swiping is too slow, now some places let you just tap your card.

Then there’s direct-deposit. It’s a great convenience. No more trying to figure out the best route to drop off your check at the bank on your way home from work. But it’s also sort of like shopping online. You don’t get to see your money, feel it, smell it. And thanks to those click-to-pay bill services, the money that just arrived in your account is sucked right back out in a flash!

What happened to real money? Am I the only one wondering this?

It’s funny. With all the new software available and programs offered by banking sites, I still do my budget on a legal sheet of paper with a pen and a calculator. I guess that’s the closest I get these days to actually having my money in my hot little hand.

I know so many people who have become statistics. And there, but for the grace of God go I. Foreclosures are at an all-time high. Bankruptcies are skyrocketing. And more people are living paycheck-to-paycheck, no matter their socio-economic status. Factor in the rising cost of gas, food and utilities and families are really in the red!

It’s just too easy to swipe and go.

I’m not suggesting we all start walking around with cash. And people do have to bear some responsibility, I suppose. But I think virtual money gets its fair share of the blame. I just think that’s probably why people have no idea where their real money is going, or rather, where it went.

P.S. — I have been known to still write the occasional check and I clip coupons. Consider yourself warned if you if you see me in the grocery store.

Katharyn is the digital producer for WFAA-TV and contributes regularly to o8sis.com. Her column appears every Tuesday. Do you have a topic for Shop Talk? E-mail o8sis