Fortunately, most everyone around here takes credit/debit cards anyway, at least where I hang out. It’s nice to be able to see exactly where my money goes on my bank statement. Even the hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that used to only take cash is now taking credit/debit cards for purchases over $8. And whenever I need a tow I call AAA and they take care of it.

I do carry about $15-$20 in my glove box in my car though, some in change and some in bills. That’s to cover parking meters, unexpected bridge tolls (well, that was before I got one of those transponders to just drive through and have my credit card automatically charged), or if I drive into some expensive parking lot and don’t realize it until it’s too late. Of course a lot of the expensive parking garages now take plastic as well…

You’d think I’d run the risk of having my car broken into and the $10-$15 bucks stolen, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take for the piece of mind I have knowing I can pay for a parking meter or garage. Funny thing is, I did have my car broken into once in front of my house, and all they grabbed was the flashlight I keep by the driver’s seat. They ignored the glove box completely where they could have found some cash!

Food
Small clothing items
Personal care
Small household expenses (batteries, washing-up liquid, laundry detergent etc.)
Books/Music
Entertainment
Small travel expenses
Petrol for the car
Road tolls
Gifts

(All other expenses are either done automatically from my current account, or I use my credit card.)

I set the cash amount after I had about four years worth of expense records, with yearly totals and monthly averages, and finally took the step of calculating the expense equivalents of everything, including the mortgage, per fortnightly salary period. I consciously try to spend less each week, but that doesn’t always work out. When I have to go to the ATM before Thursday, I know I am off track.

There’s nothing like the tangible, visible effect of a set cash amount that helps me stick to my budget. Besides, it is a sport to see how much you can keep in your wallet by Wednesday evening. If there is money left, I then withdraw less the following Thursday, so that leftover money+withdrawal=weekly lump sum.

We each get $300 a month mad money- this includes any out to eat, clothes, books, haircuts, etc. And there is $300 a month for grocery/household products.

I am from Canada and do not know anyone who carries more than a few bucks cash without a specific purpose( ie going to a cash only vendor, or a bar). From what I have read Canada is the most “Plastic” nation, as we use Debit and credit for everything.

Would be interesting to do a Poll by location.

I just got my car towed yesterday. It cost $280 – cash only – to retrieve my car. Fortunately, that’s a rare instance so long as you’re careful where you park, but unless you live in a very small town, $80 isn’t even enough to bribe the tow truck driver into unhooking you.

Cash is one of those things that vanishes without a trace in our household, mostly because my husband uses it (and says he doesn’t have a pen to write down his purchases in a little notebook. This causes the biggest hole in my efforts to budget, although I could probably assume that all the money he spends goes for lunch and coffee. I need cash for parking garages and parking meters but otherwise use checks and credit cards.

I find that a checkbook works best for me. It’s easy to overspend with credit cards, cash is piddled away, but checks take a little effort to write and require me to record it to keep track of the account.

When I was much younger and carried cash for regular spending, I avoided $1s because they were easy to fritter away, and avoided $10s, because I’d be miserly, but $5s were the right amount: I had to think about the purchase for a minute and made better decisions.

As for the $1 bills, I tend to put those along with any change I have (I hate to carry change) into our vacation jar.

I don’t find that I spend more money (I write down all my purchases on a little notebook I keep in my wallet), and it reduces stress when I can’t use a card conveniently.

BTW, those Visa commercials that try to make cash-users feel guilty are quite hilarious! It takes waaay more time to pay with a card most of the time.

rstlne, how long have you been a Georger? WG was mentioned at Queercents recently as well–really takes me back–my college boyfriend asking me how to write HTML/CSS in ‘99-’00 to create a table of the George Score–

If we could get away with it, we probably wouldn’t have a checkbook either… almost all my checks are sent through online bill pay. There’s always something that comes up that requires in-person check payment, unfortunately — and we usually left the checkbook at home. Stuff like repair calls, utility deposits, etc. We certainly don’t bother balancing a checkbook, since everything is tracked in Quicken anyway.

There’s definitely a generational difference… I’ve never seen my wife’s parents use a credit card for ANYTHING… they take hundreds of dollars on vacations to pay for everything. My grandma has several thousand dollars cached around the house “just in case”. But, then, she lived through the Great Depression, so maybe she doesn’t trust her bank as much as I do.

Jeremy

Paying for things with a debit card seems ridiculous to me. Why have the money taken out of your account now when you can use a credit card and leave the money in an interest bearing account until next month and get a 1 to 3% rebate on the credit card?