Cashless?

Parent Cafe
21

We do use cash—sometimes we pay for meals in cash. Sometimes we buy things with cash, especially if the total is $30 or less. Sometimes we pay drivers with cash. It’s nice to have options. We don’t use checks as much as we used to but I try to carry at least one blank check around in my wallet so I can pay with it instead of CC for our mechanic just because it helps him and he operates with a thin profit margin.

We do keep some cash around, just in case there’s a power outage and ATMs and other things aren’t working. It helps us sleep well at night.

22

I like to have cash in my wallet. I’ll do a few hundred dollar withdrawal from the ATM and that lasts me about a month. I pay cash for small purchases I find it silly to pay with a CC for ice tea or a coffee and I pay cash if I’m dining out with a friend. I also pay cash on occasion to the woman who does my facials. I recently stopped carrying my check book as I found I wasn’t using it. I also keep a emergency supply of cash in my safe. Last December during the fires the gas pumps were working but the gas station wasn’t able to process credit or debit cards and if you didn’t have cash you were out of luck.

My kids rarely have cash on them and it drives me crazy. They use a combination of debit and credit. My youngest does use her checkbook because she is an equestrian and most of the people she pays don’t take credit card.

I haven’t seen any place in my town that doesn’t take cash. I’ve had the opposite problem that we frequently go to a small California central coast town that has several dining establishments that only take cash no debit or credit.

23

A very small business may find it easier and less expensive to deal with currency/coin (and some try to hide it from tax collection; see https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/everyone-tries-to-dodge-the-tax-man-and-it-keeps-getting-easier/ ). But a larger business may start encountering fees at banks for depositing currency/coin, increased risk of theft or robbery, and/or increased costs of security.

24

On 911 I drove to a city an hour or so distant for training. I was running late and the gas was low in the car. I had maybe $7. It was a rather distracting day for training. I was terrified that heading home ATMs and credit cards for gas pumps wouldn’t work. We had no idea how much of an attack we were in for that day and whether credit cards would work. I have not done it, but often think that having cash on hand for an emergency would be a wise idea.

25

I actually carry quite a bit of cash. I usually take a couple hundred dollars when I travel. And then I don’t spend it on the trip, or very soon after I get home…

26

I use cash very rarely. I prefer to pay by credit card because:

  • Reward points - I get 2% cash back on all purchases. I get cash back in December for Xmas shopping.
  • It’s super easy to track my spending (imported automatically into Quicken). With cash, I have to remember to enter it into the software.

I carry $20-$50 most of the time, just in case.

27

H and I like to each carry between $100-200 in 20s until depleted then rinse & repeat.

28

I rarely have cash. My D likes to have at least $20.

29

I carry cash with me…for tips mostly, and for little purchases.

I also carry one checkbook…just in case.

Believe it or not…I still deal with some folks who don’t take online payments from my bank. Wish they wouldmget onboard with that!

30

H is still paid by a handwritten check with no stub every two weeks. When he takes his check to the bank he withdraws cash to cover two gas fill ups and an extra $20 or so. He leaves the cash in the car so that whomever is driving it has access to the cash when it is time to fill up. The gas stations around here give a discount for cash payments. We only have one car and it is just easier to have the money in the car.