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If you think about it, carrying cash around is dirty. This is why I dislike changes. No.. I am not a germs freak. Just consider the number of places that a circulated paper or coin currency has gone through.
Lots of things are dirty. I have auto-immune disease and am on immunosuppressive therapy. If anybody needs to be careful, it's me, and I don't have any qualms about carrying cash. I just wash my hands regularly.
When your card was skimmed, did you end up out of pocket for anything?
You may not have had cash stolen, but how often do you think you've lost money? Even if it's nothing more than just the change left over, that's money lost. CC's don't have that problem.
Hence, CC is safer than cash.
No, but I did lose several hours to updating on-line accounts when we were issued new cards. Do I ever worry about having lost cash? No. I described my system for accounting for my spending earlier. I know where my money goes, because I run all of my errands on the same day each week and keep my receipts. I use my change. I don't collect it.
I don't have any problem with credit cards. I understand why some people might prefer them, but I do object to overstating the hassle of using cash. Handling money takes time one way or the other, whether paper, metal, or plastic.
Is the risk of carrying cash really that high? Over the past thirty years, my credit card has been skimmed multiple times, but I have never had cash stolen. Ever.
How many times were you held liable for the skimmed card? People that get robbed (not where their card is skimmed or something like that) don't get to keep their cash, the person robbing them doesn't say, "oh, you only have cash?" and let them walk away?
If you lose cash, it is gone. You aren't getting it back.
About 300,000 street robberies per year. Includes at gas stations, atms and so on.
300,000 street robberies per year for a population of 330 million. I'll take those odds.
Nobody knows how much much money I withdraw from the drive-through ATM on my way to run errands, and an hour or so later the vast majority of it is sitting in a till at my grocery store.
I've already stated that I have never had any cash stolen. Ever. I go to the bank, withdraw the cash I need, and then run my weekly errands. That's it. No muss, no fuss.
When my credit card was skimmed, I was not held responsible for the money -- that much is true -- but I did lose time dealing with my bank and updating credit auto-pay accounts. I didn't get that time back, and time is money. Right?
Last edited by randomparent; 04-30-2014 at 12:07 PM..
I tried using cash for everything... it got really old, really fast--all that running (AKA driving) to the bank and an ATM that didn't charge me $4 to get my own money. Plus, my budget wasn't exact with cash. I would take out $80 in cash for groceries... but only spend (for example) $75. So according to my budget I spent more on groceries than I did. In the course of a year, that would throw off that line item by $260.
I have a cash back credit card I use for everything and I track my checking and that credit card (among other things) in Quicken. I update it nightly and take money out of my checking and put it in an account for my credit card. Then, about once a week, I pay the card off. I don't ever spend more than I have and I don't carry a balance. I also check my credit card online several times a week.
I usually carry $20 for small purchases and "just to have cash" because some places won't take a card for a small purchase. But that's it.
See, Jillabean, that's why cash is better. I put very little on the cc, so we don't sit there and try to figure out all our purchases on our cc statement when it comes. Used to use debit for most things, and now I don't have to write everything down in the check book and then cross check it with my statement. Now I just pay my cash and I'm done. Plus, I don't run into problems that the equipment in the store doesn't work right. And the last one is, I got sick of having 5 or more screens in the store to go through to make a debit card purchase. Now I just hand over the cash. d
No, but I did lose several hours to updating on-line accounts when we were issued new cards. Do I ever worry about having lost cash? No. I described my system for accounting for my spending earlier. I know where my money goes, because I run all of my errands on the same day each week and keep my receipts. I use my change. I don't collect it.
I don't have any problem with credit cards. I understand why some people might prefer them, but I do object to overstating the hassle of using cash. Handling money takes time one way or the other, whether paper, metal, or plastic.
You have a system that works for you. That is great but a lot of people find it much better to use CC and it make sense for them. There is no point in trying to convert one to the other.. let's just leave it at that.
The bottom line is the use of cash is going to decline as time goes on. Not something we can really control.. just a change in society.
Don't believe it? Visit some city where you want to try to park your car on the street meter with cash. There are plenty of other examples.
Eventually, people are going to be paying with the smart phone and that will be the norm.
I tried using cash for everything... it got really old, really fast--all that running (AKA driving) to the bank and an ATM that didn't charge me $4 to get my own money. Plus, my budget wasn't exact with cash. I would take out $80 in cash for groceries... but only spend (for example) $75. So according to my budget I spent more on groceries than I did. In the course of a year, that would throw off that line item by $260.
I have a cash back credit card I use for everything and I track my checking and that credit card (among other things) in Quicken. I update it nightly and take money out of my checking and put it in an account for my credit card. Then, about once a week, I pay the card off. I don't ever spend more than I have and I don't carry a balance. I also check my credit card online several times a week.
I usually carry $20 for small purchases and "just to have cash" because some places won't take a card for a small purchase. But that's it.
Please don't misunderstand, because I'm not opposed to using credit, but as a cash user I would just let the five dollars accumulate and then withdraw $60 every fifth week to account for the excess. Or I would withdraw $300 once every four weeks.
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