Even before covid and the change shortage, I almost always used plastic. I rarely carried cash. And even now, during covid I only carry a little cash, under $50. I am almost always plastic, all the time.
I use a CC for the convenience, the miles, the accounting on my monthly statement, and the purchase protection. I use a CC not a DC. It’s a great tool if you can pay off the bill each month. Heck, I even used it to buy my last car, for the miles.
But I also carry some emergency cash. Do you? I carry a stash of 100s and 50s hidden in my wallet, for the rare place that doesn’t take plastic (surprisingly they’re out there), or for when the CC systems are down, or for the zombie apocalypse. I’ll be ready! I also carry a stash of $2 bills, for the rate autograph opportunity, but that’s for another story.
I have a $100 bill folded and tucked into a pocket of my money clip/card holder. I keep $30 or so in the money clip just i n case, but I mostly use my debit card for purchases. It is easier to keep track of my spending that way
Before COVID, I did usually use cash for small purchases, and I always had at least $50 or so in my wallet.
Since March, about the only thing for which I’ve used cash is tipping my hair stylist, because the salon doesn’t let one put a tip on a credit card purchase.
I have cash, which I rarely use, in the normal part of my wallet dedicated for bills and coins.
I also have a hidden 50 (or is 100?) which is difficult to get out, but I know it’s there for emergencies.
Because some of the different delivery agencies do not accept credit cards, we also have a mixture of different bills and coins for paying taxes on deliveries. If we’re lucky, the delivery agency tells us the amount before they come to the door.
I carry cash, and, as far as wisdom fails, I probably carry too much.
Saved my bacon once in Tijuana when I got in trouble and needed to hire a cross-border tow-truck. Cash only. I bargained him down a little…and he got me home.
I have a debit card…which I have never actually used. At the moment, I don’t even know how.
“Cash is king”, from what I understand, refers more to the accounting sense of cash as any money that is immediately available for spending, not physical currency. Having cash to do a deal is better than having to get financing, but no one actually bring suitcases of currency to a legitimate business deal. They have wire transfers or checks.
I do like buying cars in cash. Usually gets a better deal, and also gives them much more heartache when you walk out.
If they’ve already seen the pile of cash right there, then when they start pushing on the warranties or extras, and you say, “Maybe this isn’t working out too well, I’m not really feeling comfortable with your pitch here. I might try somewhere else.” They start begging you to come back.
My habit was to not carry much cash, because it just tended to evaporate.
I play golf weekly w/ the same group, for a 5 wager. I generally win a couple more than I lose. Just this a.m., I observed that the amount of cash in my wallet had been increasing, because I hadn’t been anywhere that I spent cash, and I’ve been accumulating a couple of singles from golf most weeks. (Today I lost $4!)
I used to use cash for small purchases (under about $40 or so), but with the pandemic, most places seem to prefer card, so I haven’t had to stop at an ATM since March.
I do still try to keep bus fare on me, just in case. The local transit authority has an app you can use to pay fares, but the app is so sleazy I wouldn’t use it on someone else’s phone (no, transit app, I don’t want to give you access to all of my email contacts and the ability to call 900 numbers).
I typically have between $100 and $200 in my wallet. I usually go to the ATM every 2-3 weeks so that’s my spending rate. Not as much now as I’m not out that much, but if we get back to normal I expect to go back to those spending patterns.
I use cash for lunch when I’m in the office, most small purchases, and often out for meals with a group.
When I was still working, I’d pull $20 from an ATM every week or 2, mostly for sodas or snacks at work, and the occasional stop at the Amish market on the way home. In retirement, I might hit the ATM every month or so.
But for years now, virtually all of our purchases have been on our cash-back credit card. It adds up - this year, we should get somewhere around $700 back. Not bad for just using the card.
I usually withdraw $100 from the ATM, and the big cash-only transactions I make are the cheap gas station in town, which only takes cash and my usual barber, which was also cash-only. Aside from those places, I use the credit card everywhere.
I haven’t been to an ATM since February 10, and the last time prior to that was in November, and before that July. So it’s lessened since the pandemic, but I rarely used cash before that either.
I rarely had cash before the pandemic. More often than not, I had no cash in my wallet. And more and more I was paying with my phone rather than take out a credit card as well.
