Paper or plastic, not how would you like your groceries bagged today, but how will you pay for your next purchase?  Oddly enough, we often find that we seldom carry cash - and today I got "homesick" for paper money... I suddenly found myself at the store without my bank card - YIKES!  In a panic I call my husband to let him know that I have to drive home, then drive back out 10 miles to pick up some items from the pharmacy.

Thinking that I must have just left my bank card at work after lunch, or that when I took that last turn before getting on the freeway that the card flew out of my purse as it went flying off the front seat onto the floor of my Jeep.  (Now come on, you all know what I'm talking about here, in a hurry, do you just slip your card into the side pocket of your purse or do you take the time to put it away).  My husband has this great idea (well two of them actually, with the first being that I slow down and start putting my card awa where it belongs) , since we always use the same pharmacy, he will call in and pay for the purchase over the phone with his card - saving me the time and energy of driving home then back.

Brilliant thinking for the end of the day on a long Monday, right?  Well I though so too until I realized  that stores would probably take a ... ..... paper check!  JACKPOT!  Did you all know that merchants still let you write a check, I'm serious,  they even loaned me a pen to fill it out with!  Shocker - they will even take cash!!

It got me to thinking about how lucky  Camden residents are when it comes to the ease of making their payments each month.   Camden provides residents of their communities a secured resident portal where not only can they make their payments online, they can store their banking information securely and even sign up for recurring monthly payments. If  you are a Camden resident and you haven't used the online portal to make your monthly payment - give it a try.  It is extremely easy, and you will never have to worry about not having your necessary information or running out of checks.  Any office team member can assist you in setting up your online account as well as help if you are experiencing difficulties.  The resident portal  is a great tool as well for submitting service requests if you need service in your home.  Try it out then let us know what you think!