My husband and I are friends with another couple, he runs his own all cash business servicing restaurants and she stays at home with the kids. He literally gives her a pile of cash every week to take care of household expenses. I think they are mostly on the up and up - he has employees and an accountant who I’ve met who seemed enthusiastic about deductions but not overly shady. But they pay cash for everything I’ve ever seen them buy - restaurant/bar tabs, tickets etc. He told us that he has boxes full of small bills all over the house, sort of like you’d have a jar full of loose change from emptying your pockets every night. They also bought a house with mostly cash and the seller financed the rest instead of getting a bank mortgage. I suppose if you really wanted to cover stuff up you could get money orders and pay your mortgage/utilities etc. like that, too, instead of depositing the cash in your checking account and writing a check or paying online with your bank account. Money orders would also work for large amounts at the pharmacy. But yeah, Ruby and Stan are going to have an interesting discussion at tax time.
I’m really enjoying this show. I’m a younger sister who’s thankfully not as all over the place as Annie with an older sister who’s a LOT like Beth minus the criminal stuff, and their dynamic feels real to me. And I’m a big believer in suspending my disbelief - that sounded better in my head than it looks, but hopefully makes sense - so I’ve been able to handwave some things that I think are bothering others.