Do you still use cash?

[BitchesBeSniffin]

Just had a discussion with my DH about this and am wondering which of us is in the minority in the world of Mumsnet.

YABU: I still use cash and make sure I always have some on me

YANBU: I barely ever / never use cash

Last year I took my husband son and his partner out for a pre Xmas meal
we didn’t realise it was card only as I had previously paid cash on all my other visits to this restaurant

no signs anywhere and nothing mentioned when we booked
meal was around £185 for 4 people and I had
the cash to pay for it and I had already paid a 40 deposit when booking

When I went to pay they told me it was card only
I explained I had cash no credit cards on me only my debit card which wouldn’t have enough in my account to pay

They were insistent on me paying card and in the end called the manager
I just put the £200 on the bar and said you can take this cash now or I am leaving and I will come back with my credit card tomorrow

They took the cash 😂& i told them to keep the cash left over as a tip

I wouldn’t have minded if when I booked or it was mentioned on the menu that It wad card only

But the fact that they had no mention of it anywhere I felt completely fine with standing my ground
and I did have my credit card with me but I wasn’t being bullied into paying by card when they had nothing anywhere to say that they were card only

I don't know anyone who has been mugged and only 1 person, to my knowledge, who has lost their purse.

I lived in London for over 40 years and in some pretty dodgy parts and most of my friends and family live/lived in London and yet none of us have ever been mugged!

Very infrequently do I use cash. I used to keep some for the dog groomer but now I pay via bank transfer. I have some cash in the house as when the kids get money for things from other people they always ask me to keep it and transfer them the money via the bank. None of them (19 & 16) use cash, I don’t think my 16yr old has ever paid for anything using cash, both use Apple Pay or in school finger print

My son has been mugged twice in south london, I never have but guess he’s a target, young boy, expensive phone. He never had any cash on him

They have to take cash as legal tender for a debt.

I only use cash for playgroup. I can't think of any other time I use it.

We're trying to move house and our mortgage broker friend recommended trying to use cash for our day to day spending to neaten up our statements. We did this for about three weeks and it was almost impossible. Many places we take our son needed an online booking or didn't accept cash at all. When they did take cash, many of them were still surprised we wanted to use it and didn't have change so asked us if we could use card instead.

Carrying a purse everywhere was a faff. Making sure we each had enough cash within budget if going out alone was a faff. Going to the ATM was a faff. Keeping track whether the cash I had was my personal spending or family spending was a faff. Just not worth the brain space or effort in the end.

@mydogisthebest well we've had very different experience of life then!

I'll keep using Apple Pay, it's great thanks!

I do, dh rarely has cash. He uses his phone/watch to pay mostly, I cba to set that up.

It takes less than a minute and is less faff than endlessly using grubby cash machines

I use my cards mostly, reminds me to use my reward cards getting my purse out too. I always have cash on me but don't use it often. When we went to Cleethorpes front a lot of places were cash only, felt a bit weird.

I keep a note separately and have done since my student bender days, and have a backup debit card kept outside my purse. I also have a couple of hundred quid at home. And a spare house key in my desk drawer at work (I live on my own).

Maybe it's because I work in a STEM research area in which there can be serious consequences for assuming that systems never fail.

@Beowulfa serious incidents like going to the next shop to buy bread?

Rarely, a lot of places in our city are now card only and even the school fayre stalls have contactless!
My ddad does though, the kids think he's rich ( he's really not!) as he always has loads of notes in his wallet

Our PTA raises a lot of money. They take card... They have an inexpensive reader (SumUp that works really well).

Except when it doesn't. It loses BlueTooth inexplicably and refuses to work at all for spells. I'd describe it as canterkerousl And you can usually only pair your phone to one SumUp device at a time (problem when I work with different charities in small time window). Sometimes we want the machine in 2 different places at same time. Or else have to consider whether we can justify spending £40 for a 2nd SumUp device paired to a different random volunteer's phone. We are only a small group but don't always know which volunteer will have be where and need & have a phone available for pairing (and any such phones paired to SumUp have to be personal identity unlocked for access if 4-6 of us are milling around selling stuff and want to finish transactions quickly, so unprotected phone is vulnerable to crime identity theft etc). And it takes 1% or whatever of each transaction.

I mean, the card reader mostly works and makes customers happy when it works but the best fastest most secure most reliable payment solution we have found is still CASH !!

I have 15 euros in my pocket only because I was over charged in the supermarket and they repaid me in cash. I use Apple Pay and my credit card.

If I’ve given cash by eg my DM or a friend for things I’ve bought for them then yes I do still use cash to pay for things. Otherwise contactless.

As much as possible. Card is ok, but i strongly dislike all those places/events where you have to pay by phone. Annoying. Anything but convenient.

Maybe i'm cheap. But i use a cheapest phone on a cheapest contract. So no, i can't download every new app and i don't always have data. But why should i have to shell out extra money to be able to spend my own? Explain it to me like i'm 5...

Card here. Cinema is card only. Paid cash for my coffee this morn. My husb goes to football matches its mostly card at coffee queues.

Next shop could be miles away. Food is important.

There are places where you have to pay by phone? I've only come across a QR code 'honesty box' and I didn't need an extra app, unless I didn't have QR reader on the camera app. I have a cheap smartphone.

@S0livagant yeah it could be, but it's not likely to be in reality, I suppose we could also have a zombie apocalypse, so why are you leaving it so you're out of bread, you need to start thinking about freezing some and having tinned foods available.

It's important!

Maybe I want fresh bread? It's just so easy to keep a £20 in case, rather than the nuisance if walking a mile to the shop with a child and not being able to buy what you went for. I can have back up food at home and a back up £20 and not be caught out.

Why would anyone want to freeze bread when they could get a nice fresh loaf? Frozen bread is only fit for toast once it's defrosted. I'm amazed this thread is still going.

I usually have £20 in my wallet just in case - but it can stay there for six months or more;
we have a communal laundry in the basement of my apartment block, so I use £1 coins for that.
There is a hairdresser locally, not my regular one, that I use maybe every 18 months or so - they only take cash.