$3 currently, age 29.
I almost never carry cash, because I am far more tempted to spend $10 here and there on stupid stuff I wouldn’t buy if I had to use my debit card.
I DO bring cash if I am going to be in a situation where I’ll be splitting a bill with other people at a restaurant, or something like that.
I suppose I should probably carry some money for an emergency, but I just never got in the habit of doing it.
I have $8 in my wallet, and that’s less than I would like. I usually like to have at least $40 on me.
I’m 39.
I’m trying to get in the habit of pulling out a weekly sum of cash to pay for all my incidentals (food, entertainment, misc. purchases, dining out) and just use my debit card for bills. So the amount of cash I have on hand starting on paydays will most likely increase.
I have a little shy of $300 in my wallet right now. That’s a bit above average, but I’m typically above $100.
When I was slightly more flush, I would typically carry around $500-$1000. I’d have like $10K in cash at home anyway, I never knew when I might stumble into a poker game (or, more probably, when I might decide to go down to the club on a lark), and it was really satisfying always being the guy with enough cash on hand to swing any realistic expense when out with friends.
“… well, I don’t know. Jer, how much do you have on you?”
“Lots.”
“Yeah, but like how much?”
“Lots.”
My wallet is just a bill-fold thingie in which I carry my driver’s license, my debit card and my credit card. Cash goes in the left-hand pocket … gangster-roll style. Generally, I top off the roll to about $80 as soon as it dwindles down to $10 or so.
35 y.o. male. $16 on me now. That’s about average for me. This morning I had a little over $70, but I went by to pay my water bill and grabbed a sandwich for lunch.
Later this week we will be going to IL for 5 days with my family. We will start the trip with $700 cash and $400ish accessible in the checking account via the debit card.
39 year-old male. $81.
As far as splitting bills, we all do know that restaurants will split payments, right? We routinely do this, mix cash and one or more credit cards. Yeah, it’s extra work for the waitperson, but we’re not stingy on tips, either. No cash needed.
I’m the OP and I’m genuinely baffled by the no cash people. I use my credit card almost exclusively and yet I still don’t feel comfortable without at least $100 in my wallet. The number of times that cash is necessary is rare but in every case, not having cash would have been a major inconvenience.
In fact, just this morning, I went to breakfast at a cafe and when it came time to pay, I pulled out my credit card and I was informed it was a cash only joint.
Three nights ago, we were at an afterparty and everyone was drunk and hungry so we decided to order pizzas. When the pizzas came, he didn’t accept credit so I paid off the guy in cash and then took a collection to split the cost and I ended up having to foot the bill for half of it with other people giving vague promises to “get me back” since they didn’t carry cash.
A few weeks before that, we were drunk and walked by a Wendys and decided we needed some bacon burgers. The manager yelled at us for trying to go through the drive through lane so we went to the car behind us and asked for the lady to buy us the burgers and handed her cash.
A friend called me up an hour before a concert and told me he had a free ticket if I wanted to come. Because I had cash, I could pay for it on the spot.
There have been at least 5 times in my life when I’ve needed to leave a restaurant in a hurry and being able to drop a twenty on the table and walk out was a lifesaver.
I maybe burn through $100 of cash every 3 months or so but it takes literally no effort to me to keep cash around so it mystifies me how people can put up with the inconvenience of not having it.
I no longer carry a wallet, but assume you mean how much cash is in my pocket. Even when I carried a wallet, the cash was never in it. This way, I didn’t have to pull out a wallet every time I spent money. Now cash stays in the right pocket and cards stay together with the Grand Band… http://www.grandband.tv/
It sounds to me like it is simply a matter of different areas and different lifestyles.
I’d never sit down at a cafe without verifying that they take cards.
I usually order pizza by the online ordering which offers payment by card. When I am with friends only one of us pays, then another will pick up the tab the next time, and so on.
This simply would never happen in my life. Were you trying to walk-up to the drive-thru? And if I were in such a predicament I would simply walk into the lobby…Wendy’s takes cards. 
If it was after hours and the drive-thru was the only open window I’d go elsewhere if I were on foot.
If I needed cash for something like that I could have it quicker than it would take to drive to the friend’s house or for them to get to mine.
I’ve never been in that predicament either. If I am in a hurry I ask for the bill to be brought with the meal and pay it while I am eating.
If I had $100 in cash on me I would likely have it spent within a week and probably with nothing to show for it (a drink here, a pack of gum there, treats for the kids, a pretty doo-dad that caught my eye, etc.). Once money is in hand I consider it spent and budget around that, I have no emotional connection to cash like I do with my debit card, so not carrying cash saves me a lot of money by way of preventing impulse buys and unnecessary purchases.
That’s just it, there is no inconvenience. I’m not out eating breakfast at cafes, or going to Wendy’s, or going to concerts, or even buying a newspaper or paying for parking or any of that stuff, unless I know about it well in advance. shrug
I’m 39 years old, live in NYC, and I withdraw cash $200 at a time from the ATM and replenish when I drop below $100 - usually around the $60 mark. Because there are plenty of places and situations that only take cash, and it sucks not to have any on hand when those come up.
Every time a “cash / why cash?” thread comes up, there are some people whose daily lives allows complete use of quick credit card payment. But around here cash is still king for informal small and quick transactions (buying coffee, sandwiches, hot dogs, shoe shines, etc.). ATMs are plentiful (there are three Chase ATMs within 2 blocks distance of my office, and one that’s about 8 blocks away from my house) so it’s not like getting cash from one is a trek.
Even for the joints I hit for lunch that do take CCs, the transaction would require waiting for a swipe, clearance and signing a receipt I would then have to throw away carefully, as opposed to a much quicker cash transaction. And all the food vendor carts are cash only, of course, as are my local bagel shop and pizzeria. The idea that someone might choose to go to Dunkin’ Donuts or Domino’s for a bagel or pizza just to pay with a credit or debit card simply boggles my mind.
Starbucks is an exception: the cost of my coffee always ends up being $4.06 or something horrible, and they take CCs with just a swipe and that’s it, no signature required.
That’s funny, I have the opposite emotional experience: forking over cash is painful, like giving blood, but my CC number is memorized from all the times I buy stuff on the Web with it, and I have to be REALLY careful not to make multiple big purchases in too small a timeframe because hey, it’s just data entry.
ETA: I wish I could be more like you because obviously it’s better to “feel” the big numbers than the small ones. Death by a thousand paper cuts would not be my risk so much as walking around with a spurting money artery attached to my keyboard and mouse.
$66. That will probably last me the week. Everything will go on the debit card instead.
I only keep 20s in my wallet. Any smaller denomination goes in my front pocket (folded together). I also have a change purse.
So while I voted $0, technically, I have $2.27 on my person.
I agree it very much depends on your daily life. I’m not a cash-carrier except when necessary, but I also don’t buy much on a daily basis. I always bring lunch to work from home, and if I forget, I can use my employee ID in the cafeteria to get lunch (and there’s an ATM down there, anyway). I only drink coffee at home anyway, and if I really do want some that’s not watered-down work coffee, the nearest coffee place is a Starbucks that takes cards.
If I’m going somewhere where I’ll need cash (farmer’s market, the drycleaner) I’ll know about it beforehand.
I don’t have a wallet, so I didn’t vote. I also use a credit card whenever possible.
I’m temporarily in a situation like you describe: there’s no substitute for cash for informal, small, and quick transactions. As someone used to using credit for everything, it sucks. Having to remember to go to an ATM sucks. Having to manage large value coins sucks ($10 to $20 peso coins). Having to manage low value coins sucks (really, why do they even have coins worth less than $1 peso?). Handling dirty, paper money sucks. Needing to ask for a receipt for reimbursable items sucks (no receipts needed for credit card purchases). Cash sucks so bad, that when I can, I still use my personal credit card for non-business-related things, and happily, happily pay the international currency conversion fees.
This is the crux of it for me. I don’t buy shoe shines, or cups of coffee, or lunch. I don’t have to carry cash because I don’t need it.