I, too, rarely have cash on me. Usually a couple dollars in change and that’s about it. I get all snippy when a place doesn’t take plastic, actually (not with the clerk or management, of course).
I’ve ‘charged’ under a dollar several times.
On a side note, I’ve noticed that more vendors tout a minimum charge limit (i.e. no charges under $10). According to the agreement the vendor has with the credit card company, this is not allowed.
Whenever I try to charge something under their minimum amount and the clerk tries to give me grief, I ask to speak to the manager. I politely explain that this is not allowed and advise him/her that I will report them to MasterCard (my debit card is a MasterMoney Card). I’ve only had to report one vendor, so far.
Anyway, the banks out here haven’t yet caught on to the idea of keeping their ATM’s open 24 hours, and there are a lot of places that won’t take cards at all, so I use my card whenever I can just so I don’t use up my cash.
I use my american express card for absolutely everything. I go months at a time without touching cash of any sort. It is just so much more easier. We used to use checks, but neither me or Mrs. Bdgr are very good at keeping up with them. AMX gives us one bill at the end of the month, and I can track where the money goes.