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"I don't carry cash"


ztemhead

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Actually, in Japan very few people use plastic; almost every carries around big wads of cash. I've always thought the Tokyo metro must be heaven for pick pockets.

Yeah, I was gonna say. In the 2 years I lived there, the only thing I used my (UK) debit card for was ordering stuff off Amazon, everything else was cash, plane tickets and all. Public holidays were hellish, cos if you hadn't remembered to draw enough cash beforehand, you could be starving (or worse, beerless!) before the ATMs opened again - yes, they were inside the banks, and closed on holidays. OK, this was a while back now, but I can't imagine cash has been usurped just yet.

I usually have between £10-£30 on me in cash at all times, especially if I'm going out. Pubs often won't take cards for under a tenner, and it's also politer to tip restaurant staff with cash.

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I actually love the ten, but it seems like there aren;t very many of them in circulation anymore?

It seems like I'm constantly getting two fives instead.

I gotta say that I favor the $10 bill more than any of the others. I'm always on the lookout for more. I also think the $10 got the best deal when the added color to them in the most recent change. I'd also like to see the $1 updated with color...

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Yeah, I was gonna say. In the 2 years I lived there, the only thing I used my (UK) debit card for was ordering stuff off Amazon, everything else was cash, plane tickets and all. Public holidays were hellish, cos if you hadn't remembered to draw enough cash beforehand, you could be starving (or worse, beerless!) before the ATMs opened again - yes, they were inside the banks, and closed on holidays. OK, this was a while back now, but I can't imagine cash has been usurped just yet.

I usually have between £10-£30 on me in cash at all times, especially if I'm going out. Pubs often won't take cards for under a tenner, and it's also politer to tip restaurant staff with cash.

I"m going to ask a question of Donner here, but just so i feel like part of the conversation, let me say that i never carry cash. I actually got mad (for no reason, and i was in the wrong) the other day when a stall at one of the farmers market in town didn't take my card.. fucking luddites

But Donner, what the hell is with tipping in the UK. Some places i went to they were with it, some place we were told not to tip and that it would be insulting. I never figured that shit out. I just stuck with my ethnocentric american ways and tipped the 12%. But the whole time i thought the wait staff was going to spit in my food next time i came in over some sort of tipping faux pas.

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Yeah, I was gonna say. In the 2 years I lived there, the only thing I used my (UK) debit card for was ordering stuff off Amazon, everything else was cash, plane tickets and all. Public holidays were hellish, cos if you hadn't remembered to draw enough cash beforehand, you could be starving (or worse, beerless!) before the ATMs opened again - yes, they were inside the banks, and closed on holidays. OK, this was a while back now, but I can't imagine cash has been usurped just yet.

odd. I stand corrected. I could swear I read an article once that said in Japan everyone pays for stuff using their cell phones.

But Donner, what the hell is with tipping in the UK. Some places i went to they were with it, some place we were told not to tip and that it would be insulting. I never figured that shit out. I just stuck with my ethnocentric american ways and tipped the 12%. But the whole time i thought the wait staff was going to spit in my food next time i came in over some sort of tipping faux pas.

we had a whole thread on tipping a while back. Germans are lousy tippers.

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Short version: tip waiters/waitresses in sit-down restaurants (10-15%), cab drivers and food delivery people (ie. pizza etc, not the milkman or the guy who brings your groceries). If you have a regular relationship with a service provider (eg. paperboy, milkman, regular barman) then occasional tips are permissable (a tenner in an envelope at Christmas for the first 2, maybe buy the odd drink for the last one). Otherwise, it's kind of crass, but not necessarily offensive. I imagine the surly wait-staff were just pissed off at you for other reasons. :)

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I always have cash with me, sometimes a lot of it depending on what bills I'm planning on paying or what I'm thinking of buying. Like dalThor said, this is basically a cash economy. I carry my credit cards around and I'll use them for a big purchase but mostly I pay everything with cash. It makes it easier to keep track of what you're spending, actually. I do carry a lot of coins with me and use them often.

I find this odd, and it's a sentiment I hear a lot. I find it way easier to track stuff with my credit card (it's actually a check card, but it runs as a credit, not debit, card). I am absolutely OCD about my budget, every single thing I spend gets documented in this magnificent spreadsheet. I always, always get receipts if it's an option, but occasionally I lose them, or don't get one (or, more likely, my hubby forgets, although I'm getting him trained pretty well), and if it was a credit card transaction, I simply pull up my bank account and find it.

Plus, a lot of the places I'd have to spend cash are the kind of place where you don't tend to get receipts anyway. What I do now is write on the ATM receipt where I'm spending the money until the whole $80 or whatever is accounted for, but it's not nearly as easy.

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I find this odd, and it's a sentiment I hear a lot. I find it way easier to track stuff with my credit card (it's actually a check card, but it runs as a credit, not debit, card). I am absolutely OCD about my budget, every single thing I spend gets documented in this magnificent spreadsheet. I always, always get receipts if it's an option, but occasionally I lose them, or don't get one (or, more likely, my hubby forgets, although I'm getting him trained pretty well), and if it was a credit card transaction, I simply pull up my bank account and find it.

Plus, a lot of the places I'd have to spend cash are the kind of place where you don't tend to get receipts anyway. What I do now is write on the ATM receipt where I'm spending the money until the whole $80 or whatever is accounted for, but it's not nearly as easy.

I've seen this cash carrying logic before. A girl i dated would carry around an envelope with 100 bucks in it. And that is all she would spend for the week. She would write every transaction she made on the envelope. Seemed to work for her.

Me i just check my account every night on my fucking computer.

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I've seen this cash carrying logic before. A girl i dated would carry around an envelope with 100 bucks in it. And that is all she would spend for the week. She would right every transaction she made on the envelope. Seemed to work for her.

Me i just check my account every night on my fucking computer.

I mean, it works to do that with the cash, but there's no backup, you know? That's what I like about the credit card. There is independent verification!

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My problem is that I don't have a regular income since I freelance. 6 months ago I had no jobs and I was deeply in debt. Right now I have had to turn down 3 job offers.

Some months I have no money coming in, some months I get just enough to pay the bills and some months I get 5x my average income. Sometimes I get paid with huge wads of cash. So I find it hard to adjust to the famine/feast cycle I'm always in.

I have a checking account and a cash card/debit card but I always use cash. I just can't be trusted with credit cards because I have no self-control especially when I am rolling in money.

When I had a cc I would overspend like crazy. One time I even spent so much I was totally broke and had to borrow from a relative even though I was making more than enough for regular expenses and bills.

Now I get cash from the atm once a week and that's my budget. It works for me. :)

My brother recently started working for a credit card company and after a month of working there he told us all to never get a credit card. Of course, recently because of the economic slowdown a lot of people have had trouble with their payments. I think it's because he has been exposed to everything that can go wrong with a credit card.

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I always carry cash in me, but when I was living in the Netherlands I had periods when I didn't even touch a bill/coin for months. Everything can be paid with debit/credit card and the small stuff like vending machines employ a system called Chipknip which is also electronic and you access it with your standard debit card.

Lending/borrowing also happened electronically. I lived with a couple of friends so often when one goes to the supermarket he/she would ask the rest if they needed something and buy it for them. Then they don't pay back, but instead buy something on their own next time they go. All you need do is balance the payables/receivables in your head. If someone needed more money I just transferred to their bank account online. It took me less time to log into my online banking than to stand up from my pc, find my wallet, count the money and give it to them.

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I mean, it works to do that with the cash, but there's no backup, you know? That's what I like about the credit card. There is independent verification!

She writes down everything we spend every day, so we do document everything we spend. Besides, there are a lot of places here where we simply can't use a credit card.

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She writes down everything we spend every day, so we do document everything we spend. Besides, there are a lot of places here where we simply can't use a credit card.

Of course, and I do too, but I'm just saying I like the extra layer of backup, being able to compare to a transactions list online. And speaking from an American perspective, because it's hard to find a place that won't take a card here. :)

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Of course, and I do too, but I'm just saying I like the extra layer of backup, being able to compare to a transactions list online. And speaking from an American perspective, because it's hard to find a place that won't take a card here. :)

When I lived in West Philly, most of the neighborhood businesses wouldn't take credit. It costs the store you know. And I did most of my shopping at the Farmer's Market, and, while they might take credit, it seemed like a waste of time for all involved to do that for $5 purchases at 5 different stalls. I pretty much lived in a cash economy back then, and would hoard cash at home, keeping at least $30 in my wallet at all times.

Even if I can, I prefer not to put anything on a debit/credit that's under, say, $15-20. I like paying in cash for things like lunch and snacks and parking - I consider these my "petty cash" monthly budget, rather than worrying about itemizing everything.

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To me, there's also a moral issue when dealing with local traders. When I pay cash, they get my cash. If I pay Amex, they get a proportion of my money and a hefty slice goes to a multinational. Or so I believe.

It's usually something like a couple of SEK per transaction (at least here)

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To me, there's also a moral issue when dealing with local traders. When I pay cash, they get my cash. If I pay Amex, they get a proportion of my money and a hefty slice goes to a multinational. Or so I believe.

yeah but I work for that multinational, so its all good.

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The chances of getting robbed are so high where I live that carrying cash around if just plain stupid. When the mugger takes your wallet and all you have is a credit/debit card, you can always just call to cancel it before he can spend it. If I do have cash on me, it's never more than a 20. Even when I go to bars, I don't bring cash.

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I find this odd, and it's a sentiment I hear a lot. I find it way easier to track stuff with my credit card

When I said it's easier for me to keep track of what I'm spending I meant just that. It has nothing to do with keeping track of what I'm buying, it's just a practical way of making sure I don't overspend. If you know your budget is x amount of euros because that's all you're carrying and you don't want to use your credit cards then it's easier to stay away from temptation.

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