I had two reasons, the first is because i found it way too easy to spend on my card without thinking, and the second because I wanted to regain a bit of privacy alongside everything else I’m doing. Ive set it up in my bank that on payday, an amount of my salary automatically goes to the bills account, some goes to long term savings, some to short term savings, then the rest I take out in cash.

It really does change my perception of spending I think: Ive found myself not buying things because I didnt want to break a note and carry change. I can physically see how much I have left. I can take £20 to the pub and leave when its finished. Plus it feels really good knowing every single transaction isnt stored forever. I have a small amount of money on a contactless ring for emergencies like a bus fare or somewhere that unexpectedly only takes card.

Is anyone else still predominantly using cash day to day?

  • morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    I visited the UK back in 2022 and I was pretty baffled at how you can universally “tap to pay”. We visited a pub on the coast of Dorset where they wouldn’t even accept cash as a mean of payment. All in all it was nice, because it meant not having to deal with a foreign currency at all, we spent 10 days just using electronic payment, so as a tourist I think it was a good experience.

    In Germany, where I live, you’re basically getting nowhere without cash, it’s still very difficult to eat out or buy small food items like bread or a sandwich. There’s also a culture of paying cash for many things, including pricier items like a second hand car! Shop cashiers usually don’t even blink if you try to pay with a 100€ bill (except if you’re coming super early and they don’t have change available yet). It’s not unusual for me to end up drawing a quarter to half my monthly salary in cash.

    I first disliked it when I moved from France, but now I think it’s actually good for the society. You always have some change to tip a waiter or give to a beggar, a coin for the cart at the supermarket, get something from a vending machine… Also I live in a very quiet area so getting mugged is very unlikely, making it not so scary to carry cash around.

    • clb92@feddit.dkEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      I find it interesting that Germany is so far behind when it comes to IT and modernization. It’s like you’re stuck in 1990, even though you’re surrounded by countries that have used chip payment cards since the early 2000s and contactless payments since the early to mid 2010s. Nobody here in Denmark has touched a fax machine in the last 15-20 years, and apparently Germans still fax things sometimes to this day??

    • tunetardis@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Canada has universal tap to pay also, but what surprised me about the UK—at least in the London area—was how quick it was? The payment processing was near-instantaneous. In Canada, I think the machines make a phone call behind the scenes to a bank or something? There’s a significant delay before it goes through.

    • PrimeErective@startrek.website
      1·
      4 months ago

      I agree, cash is fun in Germany. I think it really helps that the 1 and 2 euro coins are available and used in circulation. It was so nice going into the Späti and buying a beer with a single coin.

      Change feels unnecessary in the States since the highest denomination that’s widely circulated is the quarter dollar. There are dollar coins, but they are hardly ever used.

      • morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        4 months ago

        Haha don’t get me started with US coins, I also have a fun story there: we arrived fresh off JFK Airport in NYC and headed to our rental apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn. It was pretty far from the a subway station so we got a connecting bus to get us closer.

        The next day, we thought of taking the same bus line to head to Manhattan, except our party of four ended up being expected to pay 4x $2.75 in a machine inside the bus… in coins. That’s 44 quarters. Yup, don’t have that on day 2 of my stay. So we walked 6 blocks.