To wonder why so many people don't carry any cash on them?

[InHibernationTilISummer]

Excluding people who are skint and the Queen, obviously.

I've had so many examples of this in the last few weeks:

• Colleague who came into the work in the bad weather. Lots of delays and problems on the bus route they normally get so wanted to get the train instead but had no money for a ticket because they had come in with their season bus pass and lunch and hadn't expected to be spending any money.
• Friend turning up for exercise class but hasn't realised that the price has gone up 50p since she last came - and she only brought the exact money she thought she would need.
• Another friend dropping older child off at sport class finds that there's a fair going on at the sports centre with stalls and activities that her younger child (who was with her) would have enjoyed. Complains that she wishes she had known about it in advance as she would have taken some money out with her.

Is this becoming more common or is it just the people I know? If you aren't skint but don't routinely carry money on you, why is that?

I've been in situations where I haven't expected to be spending any (or much) money and some problem has occurred or plans have changed for some reason (e.g. having to accompany someone to A & E or the last bus not turning up) and I would have been really stuck if I hadn't taken some spare 'emergency' cash.

I shove a note in the sleeve of my card holder. Coins go loose in the pocket of my handbag where my tube pass and keys live. When I get home, the cash goes into the big purse I used to carry around with me, that now stays in my house. I keep some notes and coins in there for the yoga class where I do need to pay with cash. I don't carry cash around with me for any longer than necessary.

I change energy supplier every year and my smart meter is now dumb, was smart for three months I am not going to faff around getting a new meter every year to save a few meter readings. Even if you go back to the original supplier that fitted it they remain dumb. Our gas meter cannot be smart at the moment anyway. I thought most people changed supplier each year so the smart meters are a bit of a time waste anyway.

If I ever receive cash I deposit it as soon as I can.

I thought most people changed supplier each year

As with so many "but doesn't everyone?" comments, no, they don't.

"I thought most people changed supplier each year

As with so many "but doesn't everyone?" comments, no, they don't."

This ^^

We have been with our current supplier for many years because they pay the highest feed in tariff on our solar panels. The FIT covers gas, electricity, telephone and broadband, and in summer they credit our bank account every month as we make more electricity than our total spend on the other utilities.

Something like 65% of people have never changed utility supplier, meaning they will be paying at least £3/400 too much each year.

Most of these simply can't be arsed or believe lies such as 'their landlord won't let them' (not true), or it's a hassle (takes about 10 minutes each time and most people aren't so rich that its not worth spending 10 minutes to save £300, or they cut off your gas and electric while the switch is going through .

Back to the thread, I hope none of the non bag carriers are like someone I know, who on a group holiday ended up with at least 4 of the rest of us carting round her tampons in our bags 'because she didn't need to carry a bag'.

I'm and about most of the 'I thought most people did that' comments on here, especially when it comes to the thrice daily showering, never wearing clothes more than once, or hovering over public toilets and only if desperate to use them in the first place.

I agree Barbara

Something like 65% of people have never changed utility supplier, meaning they will be paying at least £3/400 too much each year.

Or, as in our case, we check every year, find that the difference between our existing tariff and the best available is small (around fifty quid this year, with fairly wide error bars on behaviour because it has some restrictions over time of day), and don't bother. If you could always save £400 by switching, then after three or four years most households would be paying nothing for energy. Alongside "everything should do what I do" is the equally facile "and the only reason they don't is because they are idiots".

Lon In your case it sounds like your FIT means your supplier is cheapest for you, didn't mean to insinuate that you were one of the 'CBA to do anything about it but will just sit and moan about the size of the electricity bill' and I'm sure you've done the sums.

I'm kicking myself that we didn't get in on the solar panels act when it was worth doing it, but TBH I was a bit suspicious about a system that paid something like 40p a unit for something was generally sold for 10p a unit, and assumed that it was one of those where 'if it sounds too good to be true' applied.

if you could always save £400 by switching, then after three or four years most households would be paying nothing for energy

Well no, because the discounted tariff only lasts a year. If you switch and do nothing, after a year, your prices will go back up to the more expensive rate, so to keep saving, you have to keep switching.

I think most people carry cash around, a few don't. I do

BarbaraofSevillle Just done some sums. In the last complete year we paid out a total of £610.90 over a 12 month period for gas and electricity, and had £597.56 credited into our bank account.