So how much moola do you usually carry?
I’ll start. Most of the time, all I have in my wallet is change. I was actually shocked last week when I opened the thing and there was a $20 in there.
Anyone carry huge amounts? What’s the optimum amount to carry, IYHO? Anyone carry “mugger money” for real?
Mrs. Furthur
Usually a few hundred dollars. I prefer to take out several weeks’ worth of spending money from the bank at a time, and honestly my money’s safer with me than it is with them.
I generally carry between $200 and $300 in my wallet. I consider the risk of being mugged extremely low.
I carry 40 and cards.
The heck do you guys do with that few hundred you carry around?
Before or after grocer shopping? Usually a coupla hundred.
None. The only time I have cash on me is if I’m heading TO the bank or to church.
I’m rethinking this, though. I would carry a well hidden $100 bill in my purse for an emergency, if I thought I could trust myself not to spend it. Sew it into the lining of my purse or something.
If I’m going out at night, about 100 pounds, or $US200.
In the unlikely event that I were to be mugged, losing a bit of cash would a minor irritation compared to losing my phone. Come to think of it, I can’t think of any of my peers who have been robbed, so it’s hardly worth worrying about.
Harmonix: I use cards for most transactions, but I need cash for bars and taxis.
Around £20 usually. Unless I’m planning to buy something.
About $200 immediately after a withdrawal which works its way back to a few dollars before the next withdrawal. Actually I got $200 out on Sunday and had 20c prior to that.
I keep a bunch of twenties at home. If I’m running short, I add a twenty to my wallet. If I’m going shopping, I add two or three. If I’m going to NYC, I add ten.
I carry anywhere between $40 and $100. It usually sits in there until we order delivery. I don’t really use money on a day to day basis. I pay for gas, groceries, alcohol with a bank card or credit card.
Whenever I hit a money machine, I get at least $100. The thought of paying even 2% of my withdrawal on fees really annoys me. Taking out $20 is ludicrous on a machine with a $2 fee. I usually get cash in change when I use my card at the grocery store, because my credit union doesn’t charge.
$20, unless I’m going to buy something & need cash. I have an ATM card, though, and this is a modern age. Almost everything can be bought with an ATM card and if not there are ATMs everywhere.
Somewhere between $0 and $150, usually. If I am going to be shopping, more. If it is the end of a paycycle, less. Plastic is the prefered method of payment. I live by my check-card. 
$8 to $20, in bills. ±$10 in change, in a small changepurse.
And a CC.
$100 taken from my bank’s no-fee ATM. When I get down to around $40, I top it up again.
If I’m going overseas, I’ll go with $200-300 in cash, plus an equal amount in traveler’s checks.
Right now, in my wallet, I have $30 canadian in bills, a few bucks worth of coinage… and a whole bunch of plastic cards of various types and old receipts. 
I generally take anywhere from $60 to $200 out of the ATM when I run out of cash or need more. As far as what it gets used on…
transit fare… buying a hamilton bus pass once a month, and putting $10 a week worth on my burlington account-card. Cash is defintitely most convient for this, if not the only practical option.
Fast food places, which I don’t go to often. Enough said.
Picking up a few quick things at the corner store, and other low-cost shopping in person where I can’t or don’t feel like putting whatever on a credit card.
Laundromat machine food – either large coins that I get back in change from the two points immediately above, or putting a bill into the change machine.
Fun thread so far!
what’s that, like $4.25 USD?
just kidding. but that’s about what i average in my wallet. if i have any denominations other than ones i feel like i’m rich.
I average less than $10 in my wallet. I have very little need for cash. I usually only take it out if I know ahead of time I’ll need some. Almost every place I go to takes mydebit card, so why use cash? The card is eleventy billion times safer and more secure. If I had $200 in cash and was robbed, that would actualyl affect my finaces in a large way. I’m not in such a bad shape that I have to live ‘paycheck to paycheck’, but I’m also not doing so good that I can just lose $200 and be like “damn, that sucked. Oh well.” I know the odds of getting mugged are slim, especialyl since I live in a rural low-crime area, but the odds of me losing my wallet are much higher. It usualyl happens once a year, though I do usually find it or get it back (ony once I lost it for good.)
And another thing…you peopel carry change in your wallets? How on Earth is this possible? My wallet barely has roomfor cash and cards! There are no ‘pockets’, just slots. And even if it could carry it…the thought of change in my wallet unnerves me. It’s so odd shaped and hard, it would be like sitting on rocks!
Exactly like this. My withdrawals tend to coincide with payday for some reason.
Looking in my wallet:
£85.00 (ie about $150.00) that’s pretty normal.
Enough so that i can go to the pub for a beer or get a cab or pick up a take away (I reserve a special pit of hell for people who pay in pubs with plastic - wankers the lot of 'em). Plus children evaporate cash like nothing on earth.
I rarely carry much more than that - only if I’m going to the races or somewhere proper spendy, where I need cash.