The money answer to baby brain

The other day I was trying to take some money out of the cash-point, when I forgot my pin number. This is the same pin number I’ve had forever. Panicked, I closed my eyes and forced my brain into action. It slowly rumbled through a whole load of numbers – our house number, my phone number, my baby’s date of birth, the four year old’s birthday… but no pin number. Mortified (there was a growing queue of people waiting behind me) I had to cancel the whole thing and get my card back before it was eaten by the machine, and do the walk of I Forgot My Pin Number shame back along the high street. Cringe.

Baby brain has a lot to answer for at the moment. I have lists, lists of lists, and lists of lists of lists, but still I forget stuff. Numbers are the worst. Not only have I forgotten my pin number but my phone number regularly escapes me, along with my age (turns out I’m 31 not 30, dammit). 

So it was with a leap of joy – OK perhaps not a leap because I’d only had about two minutes’ sleep, but you get the picture – that I received my new contactless payment cash card. TSB current accounts come with a Visa debit card with contactless payment functionality, meaning there’s no need to type in your pin number when you pay for things in shops that have this payment option. You just need to look for the contactless symbol and then you wave your card over the machine. It really is that easy.

For a woman suffering with a bad case of baby brain this is incredibly good news. As more and more shops sign up to the contactless payment system so my opportunities for public humiliation decrease. No more standing at the cash-point trying to remember a pin number. No more mumbled apologies at the till, as I hastily scrabble around for a fiver in my wallet instead of using my card (why do I never have any cash on me?!). No more explanations and justifications of lack of sleep and baby brain to complete strangers who really couldn’t care less. Hurray!

I can finally throw away all those scraps of paper with my pin number written down in code – a code which I inevitably forget as soon as it’s written. I’m absolutely sure contactless payment cards are my answer to an easy life.

Now, if I could just remember where I put my Visa debit card for safe keeping….

Have you had any embarrassing baby brain moments? Tell me and share the cringe!

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Disclosure: Thanks to TSB for commissioning this post. For more information on how I work with brands check out my Work With Me page.