When was the last time you completed a financial transaction using coins & bills instead of electronically?
I bought food to make dinner, at Publix, yesterday - $9.08 in cash.
Why do you ask?
I’m guessing you are more interested in whether cash is being replaced by credit, than how often people make purchases.
If so, you might find the information from a poll more relevant if you phrase it more like “my last cash purchase was X purchases ago”.
At restaurants I always tip in cash. We eat out frequently, so I usually handle cash for that at least once a week if not more.
Even in the wealthiest and most modern country you’d be crazy to not carry any pocket cash, many small restaurants don’t take cards, ditto for taco trucks and other vendors and many many things.
Yeah. I use a card for most things, but I still use cash for pubs, often in restaurants, anything <£2 and usually anything <£5 which normally happens at least once a week.
Mostly takeaways and bread shops etc.
You know this is kind of a useful rule - if Im using or getting cash, Im about to buy something Ill probably regret foodwise.
Now some might say the icing or the like is a more obvious indicator, but pshaw with you.
Otara
Yesterday. I walked down to the coke machine and bought a soda for 65 cents. None of the vending machines around here take credit cards yet.
Plus every week I pay my landlord in cash, since he doesn’t accept checks and I don’t want to walk 5 miles (2.5 miles each way) just to get a money order.
I shop at a local flea market about once a month, and use cash there. Most of the vendors don’t aceept credit or debit cards there, so cash it is. The same for any yard sales I attend.
Before I moved I paid my lights and water bill with cash, since the city charged $5 if you wanted to use a credit or debit card.
Last week, paid for a bus trip.
Today - paid the Council rates, bought lunch and a cool drink, paid for the week’s groceries. And bought a packet of paracetamol at the pharmacy. I don’t think I’ve used a card (credit or debit) all week.
I generally keep a few bucks in my pocket for small purchases where it’s not worth using a debit card, or when the business won’t accept debit cards under a certain dollar amount. If I spend much more than $5-10, or if I need to keep a record of the transaction, it goes on a debit card.
That said, I paid cash for lunch yesterday. It just seemed easier at the time.
Ten minutes ago, at my company’s coffee vending machine (but I daily handle cash for bigger transactions, too).
Last handled cash- yesterday, when I went to the ATM to make a withdrawal. I like keeping between $20 and $100 in my pocket even if I don’t use it frequently.
Last cash transaction- two days ago, when I bought a sandwich at the deli in the mall food court. I use plastic for most things, but for anything $10 and under I usually use cash.
There are a lot of gaps in your poll choices, btw.
I’m using *more *cash these days, not less. I discovered over the last couple years of poverty that I can, actually, get by with far less than I thought, but when it all comes off a magic card, it’s harder to restrain myself and harder to keep track of.
So now when I get paid I deposit the check in the ATM and withdraw what I need for the next two weeks. I have a stack of envelopes - Rent, Food, Electric, Gas, Phone, Household Crap, Fun, Savings for Summer (I don’t work in July, so I have to budget for that month’s regular bills plus camping fees and such), etc. Actual money goes into those envelopes, and comes out of it to pay the vendor. When I need to pay a bill where cash is not acceptable, the cash gets deposited via ATM back into my account the day before I pay it electronically or by check. That way I physically can’t spend the rent money on anything else with my debit card. (I tried using a currency exchange to pay utility bills, figuring their $1 charge was worth it to keep myself on a strict cash budget, but they screwed me by not transmitting the funds in a timely manner and I got hit with late fees. And my credit doesn’t need any more hits!)
About the only thing I let sit in my debit card’s account now is long term savings (not enough to warrant getting a saving’s account yet, but soon, I hope) and money for gas at the pump, because lots of the neighborhoods I fill up in are pretty rough, and I feel safer not going in to pay at the counter. I have a “float” of about 2 weeks expenses in there so I can withdraw all the cash I need when I deposit my paycheck. Thusfar I’ve successfully resisted dipping into it when I’m not depositing a check. I only withdraw an amount less than or equal to what I’m depositing.
Pretty much anything that costs under $50, I pay with cash. I feel naked if I don’t have a roll of some size in my left pocket.
(and that roll is most commonly a stack of ones with a 20 on the outside, but there you go)
I use credit card for as many purchases as I can, since I get minor cashback bonuses with credit card and always pay the bill immediately in order to avoid interest. It’s like a free tiny discount on everything.
But it’s pretty common for me to buy a Diet Coke out of the office vending machines at the end of a long day, and that requires cash. So it’s last 24 hours for me too.
I pay for most of my small purchases in cash. Even at the supermarket I haven’t used a cart for over 10 years so I only pick up a bag full of stuff each time. All my bills I pay online.
Years ago a friend who is a retired cop told me to always carry some cash anyway for any muggers I may meet. He said you don’t want your mugger getting angry with you, just give him what he wants and bid him adieu.
Like WhyNot I find I am far more aware of what I am spending if I am looking at the dwindling bundle of notes every day.
I virtually never carry cash, and this:
… is actually one of the biggest reasons why. The cupcake truck is delicious, but they don’t take cards.
I went with “in the last month”, because I bought a Powerball ticket when it was over $300mm a couple weeks back. As often as not I’d end up in the “last 6 months” column, though. I took $200 out from the ATM in early December so that I’d have some cash in case I saw something cute for Christmas somewhere that didn’t take cards… and I think I still have about $170 of that hidden in a drawer at home.
And don’t even ask me how long it’s been since I’ve used a coin for anything other than a road toll. 
The thing I hardly ever do anymore is write checks. I think I solely use them for paying for the kids’ lunches at school, or other school-related purchases. And the only reason I don’t use their online lunch payment system is they charge for it! :mad:
I take out $20 for the week to cover small purchases. Both for the “We don’t take credit for purchases under $5” places and to save myself the hassle of reconciling a dozen $2.16 McDonalds receipts for coffees and dollars sandwiches into the checkbook.