The thing that works for us is when we see the cash getting low, we know that we have to start being more frugal, because once it is gone that is it. The other good thing about cash, is that if there is any left over at the end of the month, we can either keep it in that category or move it somewhere else.

For our Blow Money, we both get $50 a month, and I usually don’t use all of that.

It took me a while to switch to cash, but I kept going over budget with the debit card simply b/c I could. It wasn’t by huge amounts, but it was adding up and simply unnecessary. Forcing myself to use the cash and stop when I was out has really been helpful. I still only use cash for certain categories (groceries/household, gas, eating out/entertainment). Everything else we pay online. However, we do keep better hold on our dollars when we use actual dollars.

I don’t usually carry much cash– I prefer $20 or less because it:

-Avoids frivolous purchases
-I can and do ask for cash “discounts” (A real money saver– especially at yard sales)
-Never much to steal
-Makes me conscious of spending
-Because I have debit and credit cards if I need them
-I don’t like ALL of my purchases tracked by Big Brother (I don’t care if it’s just a gallon of milk)

When do I carry cash?

-When I am going to the grocery store
-When I have a specific purchase in mind
-When I am traveling

I carry about $200-300 when I am carrying cash. .

The rationale? If we need it in an emergency, we’ll go back to the apartment or get it from a friend. (And the biggest reason we would need it? You get robbed, you lose it, you misplace it…all the more reason to keep your on-person cash low.)

I wouldn’t normally carry around $100 to $200 in cash in the city. Too many opportunities to lose it, spend it or have it stolen. And no real need.

We do try to keep at least one month’s worth of cash for expenses such as food, papergoods, etc. just in case, for some reason, we could not access our bank, use credit cards, etc.

If electricity goes out, so goes the ability to use debit cards, credit cards, etc. in stores, etc.

So we do keep enough cash to go for quite awhile, if needed, due to emergencies.

We budget our expenses and use debit (or credit card, which we pay off immediately) to avoid having cash on us. Having it on you makes you consider it “available” and it isn’t. And if we don’t have the cash to pay for it, we don’t. When we use the credit card, we make a payment in that amount as soon as we’re home.

Now, when we travel, we travel with considerably more cash. Especially in the U.S. (you’d be surprised at how many times you need actual cash; debit cards are not used everywhere, plus we’ve found we’ve had issues with a lot of use with debit and credit cards on the road, even when we alert our banks. They still issue fraud alerts and since we can’t call from home, we’ve had two occasions when they didn’t believe it was us and had to get new cards issued, which meant we could not use our cards during our road trips! Nightmare.)

The more cash you travel around with, the more most of us are tempted to spend. (So cash on hand should be the equivalent of cash available to spend. and just that amount.)

FYI: We keep extra money and metro cards at work and at one or two friends houses throughout the city, just in case they are closer than our apartment. It’s the emergency backup.

(And yes, we have, on occasion, found ourselves forced to take a cab where we have to run out and get money from a friend or neighbor due to leaving a wallet behind, etc.)

Our suburban neighbors tell us that they stash cash in their cars for emergencies.

If I’m just knocking around town $20 to $40 is enough. I get two free withdrawals from an ATM every month, and $40 apiece makes for an average of $10 per week to do whatever I want. There’s always some cash in my studio, generally about $20 worth, to make change for students who pay in cash. Also there’s a jar of coins in my bedroom. But mostly I use my credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. Such services as can be routed to the card without a fee (the phone bill comes to mind) generally are. This makes it so much easier to track my spending especially by category.

Since I’m the kind of person who has a selective memory sometimes, it helps to have my spending laid out for me in black and white. When I see the statement, the facts are right in my face: yes, I *did* follow my grocery budget, or no, gas is *not* more expensive than it was last month. Or… yes, I *did* go out of control at the bookstore.