Wow. I am 51 years old, carry folded bills rather than a wallet and have $180 right now.
However, I do have a small credit-card holder that I carry in my front pocket. I use cards for most things but still feel uncomfortable if the amount of cash goes below $40. I frequently hear of people that carry no cash, as some people have indicated in this thread. Mostly, I hear about it because they have got stuck without cash and need someone else to help them out. I really do not see the point in not having at least a nominal amount of cash to be able to handle those situations where only cash is accepted.
What do you do if you need to pay back a friend/colleague for something? Or chip in with a group to buy something? While most businesses take credit/debit cards, I have yet to come across an individual that does.
Please don’t say you use checks. I hate it when I am inconvenienced by someone reimbursing me by check. I have done something for someone or on behalf of someone and now I cannot get paid back unless I go to the bank/ATM to pay in their check.
I have $0 which is usual. This started when my son went through a lightfingered stage. Its inconvenienced him a few times when he has needed money for school & neither of his parents now carry it. Its carried on as I don’t have a locker at work, so its easiest to have just an EFTpos card in my back pocket.
We have a joint chequebook. Its now only used for Sky TV (it was theonly bill paying option they had that my husband was happy with) & to pay th efee’s for my son’s sport. Other than my son’s sport club the last EFTpos holdouts have capitulated. They were my son’s high school & our computer repair place.
Is borrowing money friends/colleagues or having them make purchases that prevalent? Enough that most people would routinely carry cash for that purpose? And if you routinely carried cash, would there be a need to borrow it from a friend in the first place? I literally never ran into that situation, but if I did it would be a small thing to get cash the next time I made a purchase to reimburse them.
As far as collection or donations, I also never encounter that since I am out of the work force, but when there was collection taken up at work, it was a small matter to pick up some cash on my lunch break (or run downstairs to the ATM when I worked in a hospital) so that too was not an incentive to carry cash.
ETA: I forgot “chipping in with a group” which also has never presented itself to me since I have left the workforce (we occasionally bought group lunches but that was it). On those occasions, again it was easy to go get some cash or just be the one to pay for the order and have others reimburse me. As an adult I have always made my own purchases or in the case of friends sharing a meal etc. we take turns paying for all of it, so no one “owes” anyone else and still comes out even (enough).
I am not really talking about borrowing money, more situations like someone runs out to get sandwiches at lunch time and you split the cost.
Er, that’s my point. I am saying that one of the reasons I carry cash is so that I do not get into a situation where I owe someone money - because I can pay my share at the time.
If I know in advance that I will need it, I can make a point to go by the ATM and get cash. That doesn’t mean that I have to carry it with me all the time.
I’m trying to think of the last time I either paid someone back or chipped in for something. It doesn’t come up very often.
ETA: I should say, things like ‘someone running out to get sandwiches’ doesn’t happen to me. I bring my lunch or go home for lunch.
I don’t carry cash and can’t think of the last time I needed it. Most people my age, 27, don’t seem to carry any. There is one bar in town that has a cover so occasionally that’s a pain but I’ll either borrow from someone who happens to have a $20, who normally pays for several people, and then buy them a drink when we get to the bar or put the cover on my card which forces me to buy two drinks on my card too.
Normally either one person will pick up the tab which we rotate or we’ll just put in on a bunch of different cards and just tip bigger for the inconvenience. I can’t remember the last time I had cash in fact I’ve gotten rid of my ATM card because it was just a hazard since I never used it so the only way it would be used was someone stealing it. Not to mention it is easier for me to track my spending on my card since I don’t forget those little purchases and I get 1% off everything I buy.
In my 60s: currently 100 USD, 95 AUD (in nice colourful plastic notes) and 60 CAD. I bought a wallet about 13 years ago with 3 compartments for notes, and I like keeping them full.
45: voted $0. We have a debit card, but hubby carries it. Currently I have 85¢, and it’s not in my wallet: it’s in a small box on my desk. It’s for a bag of Baked Lays with my leftover chicken fingers from last night.
I answered $0 on a technicality. I don’t keep cash in my wallet, so my wallet is always $0. Usually, I’ll have between $40 and $200 in my pocket. I don’t like to go below $40, and if I have more than $200, I’m too likely to spend on something I shouldn’t.
23 and rarely carry cash. I use my debit card for most everything. Now, if I know I’m going somewhere and will need some cash, then I will grab a few 20s from the ATM. But otherwise, if I have the cash, I will spend the cash, so I try not to carry a lot around with me.
The Euros are leftover from a recent trip to Europe. I usually have between $20-$50. I bank with Schwab which has no ATM fees whatsoever, so it’s not a big deal for me to use ATMs in bars/restaurants in social situations.
Right now, I have $40 CDN in my wallet. Usually, I have a $20 stashed in there for lunch since the places that I like to have lunch don’t take cards. Family-owned holes in the walls tend to take cash.
And there are the restaurants that won’t take cards unless the bill is $20 or more. If it’s cheap and tasty, I’ll deal with it.
I’m 22, and I’ve got $67 dollars cash in my wallet, which is about my ideal. I generally take about $80 out and spend from that. I want cash so I don’t have to put small amounts on my cards (plus some places don’t take cards for purchases less than five or ten bucks because of the charges). Also try to pay cash tips. Also don’t want to burn friends in group settings by turning up short when the check comes. Maybe that’s less an issue with older people, where treating is more common/less of a financial strain?
Its carried on as I don’t have a locker at work, so its easiest to have just an EFTpos card in my back pocket.