I withdrew $200 back in March. Figured I’d use it for tips, small random purchases. It was finally depleted in early August, mostly from going to the farmers market.
I tend to use my debit card for purchases over $20. I keep a $20 in my phone case, and toss change and singles into the console of my vehicle. Console cash becomes coffee cash.
Yes I do realize I didn’t use the ‘Cash is king’ saying as it’s traditionally meant to be used. I hope that didn’t throw anyone off when they selected this thread.
Once years ago, visiting our son at college in Manhattan (this was our dancer son) my wife and I gave him the cash in our wallets. College kid and finances, and all that. Later that night the three of us met a family friend and his wife and we wanted to take them out to dinner. We selected a place (somewhere in lower Manhattan, I don’t recall exactly where), and we enjoyed a nice dinner. It was a somewhat fancy place, not outrageous, and entrees were about $25-30 per. When the check came I put my CC down and they said, sorry, we only accept cash.
What? In Manhattan?!?! Cash only? Really???
I turned to our college kid son and asked if we could borrow that cash back. And it was just enough to cover the dinner and tip.
Since that surprising event, and that was about 10 years ago, I carry a few hundred in a separate, out of the way place in my wallet. Yes it’s a risk if I lose my wallet, but to date I’ve been pretty good at that and I’ve never ever lost my wallet (knocking on wood as I write this). It’s my emergency stash and so far I’ve been pretty good at only using it for real emergencies.
I’m same as OP, other than not having a special stash of $2s.
Cash is for emergencies only. There’s a bigger stash at home for a zombie apocalypse (post-hurricane widespread long-term power outage really), a smaller stash in the car for buying emergency car repairs on the interstate, and a hundred-ish worth in my wallet for CC problems while traveling/working. And I carry multiple CCs to further reduce that latter risk.
Like @LSLGuy I now carry multiple CCs, and for the same reason. I used to only carry one CC, the same one for the wife and me, but we got surprised late one night a few hundred miles from home when getting gas and the card got declined. I called the bank (B of A, so not a podunk small bank) and they said their systems are being backed up and they couldn’t let me use the CC. They may have thought the CC was stolen and they couldn’t verify my identity, who knows?
Since then we have 4 CC accounts, and each of us carries a different set of only 3 CCs. That way we each have 1 we use all the time (the same CC for both of us), another we use for monthly bills (explanation follows), and among those 4 each of us carries 2 backups in case of system problems. And they are with different banks in case of the nightly system backup described above.
The dedicated CC for some monthly bills is different from our main CC, because our main CC tends to get flagged for possible frauds, and when it needs to be replaced it is a pain to update those monthly accounts.
It may sound like a complex system of 4 CCs for the two of us, but it works for us.
Except for tips, I have not used cash since February. Before that I used it for personal services that didn’t take credit: barber, my wife’s hairdresser, foot care, housecleaning and we have used none of those in 8 months. My bank machine allows the choice of bills and I got 40 five dollar bills that I have been using to tip delivery people.
Second this, and I wasn’t even trying to make the full purchase with cash. By the time the deal was complete, my significant cash payment was very much more significant than when I started.
I like cash for smaller purchases, twenty or less. But I often have a couple of hundred in a mix of fifties and hundreds that I use for groceries and maybe a hundred in a mix of denominations up to twenty for other small purchases such as coffee and the like
I always carry some cash, but the first time I used it since March was when I got a haircut a few weeks ago. Since I’m tipping in cash it was easier to do the whole transaction in cash.
Before Covid I’d use cash for small transactions, like fast food, but now I’ve been using a CC for everything. I only use the DC at Costco.
Things have changed. When I started at AT&T in 1980 they did not have company cards and you were not supposed to use your own card. Airplane flights and rental cars were direct billed, and you got a cash advance for hotel and food etc. It was a real pain - we were all grateful when we finally got AmEx cards.
Before all this, I carried a hundred or two for petty expenditures. I haven’t spent any cash since March. I keep about a thousand in an envelope in my fire safe in case there is a serious power outage or if we ever need to flee our home during a disaster.
I usually take out $200 at a time and it lasts me 3 or more months. I’m guessing I took cash out of the ATM latest in May.
Other than a few cash only places like my local Jamaican place or the kids needing a $20 for something at the store, I’m a credit card guy. With the advent of near-universal tap in Canada my wallet is rarely out of my pocket.
Cash is still king in some transactions. Just try paying for crack with a credit card.
What?
I’ve had the same $20 note in my wallet since…March, I think - reimbursement for a work purchase. I use my debit card¹; there’s hardly anywhere in Australia that doesn’t take card payments, and tips are not a thing. Even when I do feel inclined to tip, I just add it to the card.
¹ATM card tied solely to my savings account - also have a Visa credit card, and an Amex. Which I use depends on circumstances, but they’re all in my phone.
I find myself wondering if those apps are safe. It might just be me being a dunce, though. I used to lose my wallet all the time, but have not done so in 15 years or so. On the other hand, I lost my phone last year and my brother lost his last month (both replaced). I never put any sort of financial info on my phone.
When I retired in late January, my co-workers gave me a big piggy bank stuffed with almost $1000 in cash. I was going to use that as “walking around” money for the rest of the year. So much for that since I haven’t been in a store or drive-thru since early April. I did use some to pay the guy who raked my leaves in February and I’ve bought gas with it twice (twice!) since March. Maybe I’ll get to use the rest in late 2021.
I do tip the Kroger pickup folks and was using the $1s but I ran out of them. I have a big jar of change I’m using for that and it should last for quite a while.
It all depends, I suppose. I’ve never lost my phone, so I’m not all that concerned about it. It lives in my belt pouch, and I’ve formed the habit of always putting it back there when I’m done with it. If I should lose it, I can log into my google account and lock or wipe the phone remotely. I’d say the risk is about the same as having your wallet stolen, really. YMMV.
My dealer takes plastic. You need to upgrade your dealer.
What?
Same here. No one here wants cash right now, so I’ve still got it. Prior to COVID I used it for tips and paying for stuff at the farmer’s market and other small things. I guess it’ll stay in my wallet until things change or I die, whichever comes first.
I ue my debit card for almost everything. Significant purchases go on my cash-back credit card and are paid off monthly.
However, in the last couple months I’ve been taking out $100 cash each payday with the goal being that I have $1000 on hand if I need cash for something. I could just take out the $1000, but this seems to be building nicely. I keep the cash in my car, with the idea being that wherever I am, that’s where my car is, and any emergency spending is likely going to be away from the farm.
I did have my electrical upgraded recently and asked the electrician if he offered a cash discount. He did, and it was 10%. I told him it was okay if he didn’t, but then I’d pay with my cash-back card. Cash was definitely king that day.
StG
Cash got dethroned maybe a decade ago. There is just too much cost in carrying that king that we needed to vote it out. Both in things like ATM fees and the time it takes to go there. Cash is a drag. Transactions are longer as one finds the bills and gets the change. People who use cash in the supermarkets is ‘the new’ people who use checks in a supermarket, stop wasting our time with your antiquated self righteous method of payment. Actually the new way they do checks now (scan and convert to debit), cash is the longest method. Cash is the poorper method of payment, to look down upon. That king is dead, long live the king.
I hide a $100 bill in my wallet in case I end up in a situation that doesn’t take cash, but I mostly only use cash for purchases under $5 like fast food or when I only need one item from the store. everything else is cards.
I always have a couple of folded 20s stashed in my wallet, along with some 5s and singles in the actual bill compartment.
I’m a little surprised that some of you stash a hundred for places that do not accept cards. Note that plenty of places will not accept a Benji either.
mmm