I use my debit card almost exclusively. I write maybe two checks a month, and I only occasionally have cash on me. I don’t have a credit card. I’m 36. I wonder if it’s a generational thing?
It depends on where I am and what I’m using it for. When I can I use my credit card for everything and then when the bill comes I pay it off completely. That way I can track spending and get reward points at the same time.
I always keep cash on me for emergencies.
I’m not sure about your idea for it being a generational thing. I’m only a little younger than you and almost everyone I know has at least one credit card.
Barter for sex.
AmEx, I want the points.
Credit card, then paid in full.
Took me awhile to get used to the idea of charging $1-$2 purchases, but it is more convenient. I’m <30
You specified “goods.”
I’m a little old-fashioned about how I keep track of our utility bills, so I write several checks each month - yes, with an old-fashioned stamp! - for things like electricity, cable, water, etc. But other than that, for goods, cash if I’ve got it, credit card if I don’t.
I’m just a hair under 30, since you mentioned generational attitudes.
I use cash for as much stuff as I can. I almost always use it for groceries and any spending money (lunches out, a coffee, a splurge on makeup, etc.).
If I don’t happen to have cash on me, I’ll use credit. I also use credit for my kids’ clothes and any car repairs.
Credit card - it’s by far the most convenient way. Not to mention the rewards you get, and the positive effect on your credit rating - assuming, of course, that you pay your bill off every month. I’ve never understood people that can’t handle their own finances to the point that they don’t “trust themselves” with credit cards. I’ve never paid a cent of interest on a CC in my life, and I don’t have all that much money to begin with.
Haven’t had a credit card for many years. Was using strictly cash for everything for a couple of years, then finally got a checking account again just late last year. Still usually use cash at bars and restaurants, other stores sometimes, debit card otherwise. Try to purchase as many things online as possible.
Credit card for points, natch.
This poll doesn’t give the basis for the question: is it by count of transactions, or by amount? For me it’s about 50/50 in terms of the number of transactions I do with cash versus credit card, but more like 10/90 in terms of amount spent.
Definitely by aggregate amount, it’s overwhelmingly by credit card or direct ACH transfer payment from my checking account: mortgage payments, utility bills, groceries from the supermarket, gas, books and music from Amazon.com or iTunes or whatnot, heck anything I buy online.
But I also have lots and lots of small cash transactions all the time, nearly daily, mostly for food (pizza, bagels, coffee, lunch time food vendor carts, etc.) but also for services like shoe shines and dry cleaning. These are very often cash only businesses in NYC, or else are transactions that go much faster if I can use cash instead of waiting for the card to clear and then to sign a receipt. Many threads have gone over why this is so and how it could be unique to a dense urban area rather than a suburban one, but there you are.
I very very rarely use my checkbook. Maybe for the built-in indisputable receipt when giving to a charity or making a deposit payment of some kind, like for a contractor doing work on my garage. That’s about it.
Ooooh. Tracking the relative financial value of that gives new meaning to the terms “swap spread” and an “on-the-run debt issue”.
Not to mention the department called “Accounts Receivable”.
Almost all of our monthly bills (mortgage, car payments, insurance, credit card bills) are paid online through my credit union’s website. My credit union provides the service for free, and it works extremely well.
The only things I ever pay by check now are the medical bills, because, for reasons unknown, every invoice issued is given a unique account number, which would require me to set up an entire new payee for every single bill, even from the same doctor’s office.
I am increasingly using debit cards for every day purchases, although I use cash for small things like coffee and doughnuts. I use credit cards when traveling, when purchasing things online, or for non-routine purchases such as new tires or birthday presents.
I have to say, I’d hate to go back to doing everything by check. Just addressing the envelopes is a pain in the ass, and the cost of stamps really adds up nowadays.
Almost exclusively cash and debit card. Check for rent only, credit card for hotels and rental cars, then paid immediately. I guess I could use my cc more often and rack up these “points” of which some of you speak.
I use a credit card partly for the consumer protections it gives me.
I’d like to use cash as a budgeting mechanism for day to day stuff like groceries but I’ve never taken the step.
I attempt to budget by getting cash out on payday and operate off that.
Utilities, credit card payments from my checking account online.
I don’t have a particular metric in mind, really. It’s more about perception: what do YOU consider your main method (s) of buying stuff every day?
Debit card for food, gas, entertainment, clothes, books. Online payment using debit card for bills. The only time I write checks is for my rent. I rarely carry cash, and when I do it’s around $20-30.
Credit card for almost all in-person purchases, so I can get the points and avoid having to carry any more cash than absolutely necessary, and then I pay my credit card bills online in full every month. My DirecTV and water bills are also charged to a credit card, and other utility and mortgage payments are paid online. The only payments I make by check are my HOA, homeowner’s insurance, and property taxes. I could have my monthly HOA payments deducted directly from my bank account, but I don’t want them to have that information - one of my few cases of banking paranoia.
I use my credit card for the vast majority of my regular purchases every month. For monthly expenses that don’t go on the credit card, e.g. utilities, I use electronic bill pay directly from my bank account. That goes for paying the credit card bill as well, which I do in full every month.