Do you use cash or debit cards?

Citygirl1

Just had a discussion with my friend and she rarely uses cash for anything. She finds it easier to use her debit card and just have a bit of cash when its needed. I am tempted to try her system because this is how mine works and I'm now a bit unsure.

I do my budget on Excel as best I can and then every month when I get paid I transfer so much money into an account to pay my direct debits, then some into another account for Christmas, some into another account for home expenditure, another for holidays (all on line accounts).

I then work out how much spending money I think I will need per week which is usually about £150 but I don't spend that much (apart from at Christmas and times like that). I then put all that money in a purse in my sideboard drawer at home. I take money out of that purse as needed to put in my handbag purse - sometimes I forget and then end up using my debit card anyway. At the end of the month, whatever is left in the purse in the drawer, goes into an envelope for my savings account for the future (one I try not to touch, its an ISA). Once I have accumulated so much money I then take it to the bank.

I am now wondering if its wise to have so much cash at home. I use to think that cash was easier to spend to see where it goes but my friend finds it easier to track debit card spends online.

I am also wondering if I need so many accounts online (with the same bank). How do you work it? Do you have a separate account for direct debits to go out of at least or do they all go out of one account?

McKneff

We have one joint current account and a joint saving account. We use 95% debit card for spending, shopping, petrol etc. Dds comeout of the same account. Any thing left just before our pensions goes in gets transferred to joint savings account.
Everything is listed then on your statement, mich easier for you to transfer to your spreadsheet.

We dont bother with a budget. As long as there is some left to save then we have enough x

166million

I use a cashback credit card for most spending just pay it off in full every month

[Deleted User]

I use a c/card for stuff like fuel etc but cash only for food I pay it off asap before the end of the month

[Deleted User]

Cash burns a hole in my pocket, it always has, so I mostly use my debit card and keep some coins for times when only cash will do.

Linda32

I use cashback credit cards when I can. I use cash for very small purchases, hairdresser and chiropodist.

Whole balance direct debit payment set up for the credit cards.

tori.k

I use card over cash, but I stick to a set monthly budget, I stopped using cash when we were overpaying our debts as it made the kids & DH take lunches to college/work or budget there own cash better as it soon became pointless asking to borrow money off mum

JIL

I mostly use my credit card. However it is always paid off in full at the beginning of every month. This covers food, petrol, hairdressers, car repairs, vet bills, clothes, work expenses, holidays. Anything really.

I usually have some cash in my purse, I think I have £38 and that has been in there since a week before Christmas.

I don't seem to spend money during the week, so the cash is for office collections and things that come up.
Very rarely I do use my debit card. This wouldn't work for everyone but it works for us, it's then easy to see how much we spent on different things.

Brambleberry

I do almost all my spending on my debit cards, it makes it easier to keep track of the amounts when I put them into excel. Using a spreadsheet makes it easy to keep multiple piggy-banks in one account with good interest. Over the last few years I have learned to ignore the "available balance" of the whole account and work instead from the amounts I know are in each category. Cash on the other hand has a tendency to escape unchecked more easily so needs more careful management!

Lizabeth21

All cash for me. Take money from atm every two weeks and then know exactly how much I have.

CRANKY40

If you have money left over at the end of the week just draw out less the next week and arrange a transfer of the extra amount straight to your savings account via your bank.