How much cash is enough?

I keep $500 in a rucksack with some clothes and camping gear in my pickup truck. I keep more with some pm's in a fire resistant lockbox buried in my store of Christmas paraphernalia in the basement. I usually carry about $50 or so on my person.
Card fraud worries me....I use a prepaid debit card for online purchases and I won't use a card that accesses any bank account for any retail purchases in person. I will use one to withdraw cash from a bank ATM though.
 

ClassicRockr said:
We carry very little cash with us. We use our bank card to pay for things. Have checks, but wife only uses them for paying bills.

Could never understand, and have seen it before, why a guy would carry a roll of bills in his pocket. Oh well, another one of those "to each their own" things!
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Maybe it wasn't for spending.
 
I don't keep any cash at home, but always have a minimum of $40-50 up to maybe $150 in my wallet. I use it for lunch, small grocery purchases, booze, other odds and ends. I know a lot of people who use CCs for everything. I've asked them how big their statement is every month, and do they go through every item to make sure all is legit.

They all lie to me and tell me they do.

I have no idea what the upside is to using a CC for a $5 - $10 purchase.
 
I keep about $1000 at home because cash is king in a disaster and So Cal is prone to occasional fires and EQs.

My wallet usually contains $50-ish. Like a few others mentioned, I never, ever, ever use a debit card unless I'm at the bank because of a fear of being hacked.

The hubs and I use a reward CC for purchases over $15 or so and cash for little things.

p.s. @Old Dummy we do go over our CC statements every month. ;)
 
I have a $100 bill tucked into my an obscure section of my wallet. Emergency $.

One of my clients pays me in cash so I keep that on me as a petty cash draw.

I’m also paid with Venmo and PayPal, so I leave about $20 in each and transfer the rest to my bank.
 
Ronni said:
I have a $100 bill tucked into my an obscure section of my wallet. Emergency $.

One of my clients pays me in cash so I keep that on me as a petty cash draw.

I’m also paid with Venmo and PayPal, so I leave about $20 in each and transfer the rest to my bank.
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Ronni, does Venmo take a small percentage? I know that PayPal does because I use it for some of our retail-direct online business transactions.
 
RadishRose said:
I never carry more than 20 to 40 on me, but keep some cash in the house hidden near the exit where I also keep the dog leash and my handbag.
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Same here. I also have a flower vase with a plastic plant in it, covering a bunch of loose change. The change is for the grandkids to use when they come over and want to walk to the vending machines by the front office for candy or cokes.
 
Using cash only shows that young people cannot make change in their heads. I am not being sarcastic. I saw this again recently when I went to pick up a pizza. The price was $17.25 and the manager was working with the new hire working the register. As the new hire paused when I handed him the 20 dollar bill the manger asked him to subtract 17.25 from twenty and the young man said "Give me a minute here then in the form of a question said 2.75? I guess I should not be critical of their generation but there are things that should be fundamental and math and spelling are two things among many.
 
fmdog44 said:
Using cash only shows that young people cannot make change in their heads. I am not being sarcastic. I saw this again recently when I went to pick up a pizza. The price was $17.25 and the manager was working with the new hire working the register. As the new hire paused when I handed him the 20 dollar bill the manger asked him to subtract 17.25 from twenty and the young man said "Give me a minute here then in the form of a question said 2.75? I guess I should not be critical of their generation but there are things that should be fundamental and math and spelling are two things among many.
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I still count backwards when giving or getting change. Using your example, I'd say $17.25, then hand the person 75 cents while saying $18, then hand over the bills, one dollar at a time, while saying $19, and $20. Easiest possible way to give change, IMHO.
 
fmdog44 said:
Using cash only shows that young people cannot make change in their heads. I am not being sarcastic. I saw this again recently when I went to pick up a pizza. The price was $17.25 and the manager was working with the new hire working the register. As the new hire paused when I handed him the 20 dollar bill the manger asked him to subtract 17.25 from twenty and the young man said "Give me a minute here then in the form of a question said 2.75? I guess I should not be critical of their generation but there are things that should be fundamental and math and spelling are two things among many.
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Reminds me of a funny thing that happened when we were at Epcot Center...the power went out in the building we were in - the Kraft Building I think it was, and I was in line for a coffee and muffin at a bakery stall. The kids couldn't make cash, but the cash register was open. The line was getting longer and longer so I finally went around and showed the kid how to "count forward", like ok 10 bucks, and the bill is 5.75, "so go here's a quarter to make 6 and give them 4 ones and you're good to go". The kid was amazed and several others surrounded us learning how to "count cash". The kid cleared out the line with me watchig. Finally the manager came over thanked me profusely and offered a nice gift certificate for helping out.
 
Bonnie said:
@Liberty ... it's a shame that technology has turned people's brains into mush!
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You got that right Bonnie. At first I was "floored" that no one knew how to make change and they had the cash drawer open with plenty of change to make change with...like, what gives already. Took me a bit to tip to what the problem actually was. Also had to show how to make up a "written" ticket for each transaction.
 
I hate to break it to y'all, but we're the generation that taught our children and invented/embraced those magic cash registers that require virtually no thinking on the part of the cashier.

We were the source of much of what we complain about with what's wrong with younger generations.
 
I keep $20 folding money on me but can go weeks without touching it. I use my credit card for everything and get free airline flights from it.
 
StarSong said:
I hate to break it to y'all, but we're the generation that taught our children and invented/embraced those magic cash registers that require virtually no thinking on the part of the cashier.

We were the source of much of what we complain about with what's wrong with younger generations.
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Not I .... I didn't teach anyone to be stupid ... :)
 
Right now I have $369 bucks in my wallet. That's about average for me. I really need to increase that. A real man should never have less than $1000 bucks on him. The problem for me is the ATM's only dispense $20. I can't even shut my wallet with $1000 in 20's in it. So I would have to go to the credit union and change the 20's for 50's or better yet $100's. But then whenever you pay for something with a 100's they give you the old stink eye and hold the bill up to the light and then mark it with their magic pen before they take it. Some places even put up signs that read "No large Bills" :mad:

ATM's should dispense $100 bills. And all businesses should be required by law to take them. Hell $100 bucks is only worth about $10 bucks in 1950's money. So why is that the largest denomination anyway? We need to bring back the $500 and $1000 dollar bills.

ATM's should also allow withdrawals up to at least $1000 bucks, instead of this ridiculously low limit of $300 that most of them have.

You know the more I think about, the next time I'm at the credit union I'm going to take out at least $1000 in 100 dollar bills and start carrying that in my wallet. Back when I was a little kid my old man always had at least $100 bucks in his wallet. And that was back in the early 50's when that was equal to about what a grand is today.

Real men carry cash.
 
Cash is like love, you can't get enough of it! Any how I never carry cash, maybe $20 dollars. I pay for everything with a debit card, recently in a store the clerk said there is a $1 charge to use your debit card, so I said okay I need to go out to the truck and get a $1 and left as he tried to explain that the $1 would be added to the sale.
 

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