Do you still use actual cash to pay for things? Ive just realised I've not used notes & coins for months

[ApexDragonfly]

Its suddenly struck me that I've completely stopped using actual money in every day life. If I go out anywhere I use my phone/watch to pay so no longer bother carrying my purse most days. If my teen dc ask for money I just do a bank transfer rather than handing them cash. Ive just booked a friend group Christmas dinner and everyone transferred their deposit to my bank account. I think the last time I used actual money was when I was on holiday, but even then things like taxis were via an app, flights and hotel booking were paid online, and bigger restaurant bills I paid via card.

I think what's made me realise this is that the news is full of govt warnings to have some actual cash in case of a cyber attack. And I checked my purse and found I had £100 cash in it (I went camping in June, so took went to a cashpoint to get actual money in case i needed it. Turns out I didnt spend any of the actual cash money and have used my card to pay for everything since then).

Surely I'm not the only one who has gone cash free? Ive enabled voting

YABU - I still use cash for most things.
YANBU - I never/hardly ever use cash

I never use cash or have any cash. I hate going to the cash point.
Recently, I went to a craft fair so I did get £20 out of the cash point. I didn’t buy anything. I then tried to pay in cash at three different shops, who all refused it! I ended up paying for my nails with it and then transferring the rest (I always pay via bank transfer).

I used cash for the window cleaner once a fortnight, sometimes for parking and giving foster DC £15 pocket money and I keep a bit of spare cash for charity collection boxes and giving to homeless.

I do keep a few hundred pounds in cash £ in safe and I have cash € in there too.

I do use cash occasionally but don’t always have it on me.
recently had an issue with a cash only car park. 50p to park but £100 fine because I didn’t have cash on me. Still fighting that one - I’d hold my hands up if I’d been trying to avoid paying but I really wasn’t.

And I did leave rather than park but it took 15 minutes by the time I’d found the parking terminal, back to the car to try and find cash, back again to the terminal because surely there MUST be a non cash option I’d missed…

Use both but cash basically for small amounts. I di feel sorry for traders who incur incur credit card charges for a purchase of a couple of pounds.

Ive read all the replies, and the voting shows that around 3/4 of mumnetters are like me and are now mostly cash free.

I went up to London today, booked my train ticket via my phone. Tapped in and out of the underground with my phone. Paid for shopping with my phone. Had a friend do a bank transfer to me with their phone. I was trying to remember how I did trips to London in my late teens/early 20s before i even had a phone, and I have vague memories of getting a train ticket with a travel card, arranging to meet up with friends under the big clock at Waterloo at a set time (and we did all manage to find eachother) and taking £30 out of the cashpoint hoping that would cover the evenings activities.

I'm older, I pay lots of things by card and bank transfers but have always had at least £200 cash at home and will continue to do so.

I’m older too, but as I said above. I only use my phone and my watch to pay for things.

I use cash on holiday abroad as it helps manage my budget
At home rarely - car boots and a few second hand jewellers are the only outlets I use which are cash only

I use both. I keep a small amount of cash in the house in case and in my wallet. Also for tips I am against businesses making employees pool and share their tips.

I use cash for loads of things. All food shopping and random spends.

I also bring it to restaurants as a PP mentioned, here in the US they charge extra for using a card. I like using a CC because it builds up my travel points, but if I’m going to be charged extra, I won’t.

The only cash I use is the £1 coin I keep in my bag for supermarket trolleys! I do have cash in my purse though, so I could get a taxi home if payment systems stop working for any reason, like they had in Spain a while back. Otherwise I will always use my phone to pay, even if it's 70p.

I have some cash to pay the guy who delivers food.

Can't be arsed to cook.

I stopped using cash during the pandemic as most shops wouldn't accept it. Before then I used to withdraw cash for the week on a Monday and didn't really use my debit card. I quickly discovered that I spent less just using cards and didn't have a massive purse full of dirty coins and notes to carry around, plus it was safer not to carry huge wodges of cash. It was quite liberating, just carrying a small wallet with my cards instead

Now I just pay everywhere with my phone so I don't even carry a wallet. I withdraw cash maybe twice a year when I order from a takeaway which only accepts cash payments - I usually avoid businesses which do this because they always seem as sketchy as fuck, but this has been our favourite local takeaway for 30 years so we trust them.

'Cash is king' types are seriously weird.

I have banknotes in my wallet because my MIL gave me cash as a gift for my birthday. My last birthday but one. I've no idea when I'll spend them as I rarely take my wallet out. I'm currently away for the weekend and didn't bring it.

We’re both self employed and have quite a few elderly customers who pay us cash as they don’t do online banking so no bank transfers . It’s a pain having to go and pay in our earnings each week but thankfully our post office two minutes away do banking . We do however have a couple of customers who we insist pay us cash as they “forget” to pay us if not . 😜

No, outside airports nowhere really accepts cash were we live.

Is that in England? I can't think of anywhere that I shop that doesn't accept cash apart obviously from some self service tills

Cash is still very much King! Sweden spent years leading the world toward the elimination of cash, with many buses, restaurants, and banks going entirely digital. However, facing geopolitical tensions, cyber warfare threats, and critical infrastructure dependencies, Sweden’s stance has experienced a major course correction. Sweden's central bank has explicitly urged households and businesses to maintain access to multiple payment methods, including physical cash, as a crucial buffer against sudden disruptions.

Sweden’s total defense strategy incorporates payment resilience. Agencies emphasise that if digital systems are crippled by hostile cyberattacks or grid failures, a population entirely dependent on digital apps or cards cannot buy food, fuel, or medicine.

Cash is now treated as an offline backup generator for the economy.

“A population entirely dependent on digital apps or cards cannot buy food, fuel, or medicine”

How are you going to buy food in an outage when the till and stock systems, probably even the shop doors!, are all online systems? Fuel pumps could be automatically disabled. Prescriptions are all online. The people working in the shop are paid online.

Cash is only “king” (which I still think is an incredibly cringey phrase) if everyone suddenly reverts back to being a 1950s shopkeeper with a little notepad. Chances are during a massive cyber attack Tescos will be closed.

I agree. As I've mentioned upthread, our city suffered a power outage during Storm Desmond. Cash wouldn't help you as literally everything was closed except the smallest of private/independent shops who stayed up to sell off their perishables for a couple of hours after the power went down, before it went dark!

Shops can't safely open with no heating nor lighting, no security, etc., let alone no tills for barcode reading, etc. Garages can't open when their petrol pumps need power so people can't buy fuel (not that their tills would work either). Even the railway station closed because it wasn't safe for passengers to be on unlit staircases, tunnels, bridges, platforms, toilets, etc., so trains didn't stop.

Yes me and my co workers should all be able to get an envelope stuffed with 3k at the end of the month. What could possibly go wrong.

Mainly use card but always have at least £50 in my purse. Have a change jar at home too 🤩. When we go abroad on holiday , we always get our euros/ dollars

I suspect the illusion of cash as a reliable safety measure is largely psychological. Holding some cash in your hand makes you feel more secure. It may not actually be true, but whatever helps people.