How many legitimate things/occasions do we need cash for?

I try to pay with cash whenever possible. I take cash out of the ATM around two hundred dollars at a time. I try to avoid using credit cards for gasoline, in stores, in restaurants, all when possible, unless I’m making a big purchase and don’t have the cash, or want to keep some cash on me. I feel like the less I use cards for, the less chances there are for fraud and ID theft.

My biggest reason for paying cash is so Big Brother has no way to trace what you buy, how much you buy, how often you buy it and where you buy it.

I feel like I keep better track of what i’m spending if I use cash and do something very similar to what @jca does.

I use cash for any purchase below $20. That saves card bank fees for the vendor. It also greatly reduces the number of times my cards are exposed, reducing the opportunities for fraud and abuse.
I also use cash if the vendor offers a cash discount. Small businesses often do.

Vending machines.

Small business.
I know of a lot of small businesses that do not have card reading capability.
They most will, however, take a check, especially if it’s local.

I’m like a Swede. If it can be put on plastic, it goes on plastic. I have cash-back credit cards, and I keep the balance on them paid in full. I have an income from the cards of several hundred dollars a year.

As @RedDeerGuy1 suggests, I used both a vending machine and parking meter today.

Small vendor craft shows.

When you use cash you don’t spend as much.

There are forces afoot determined to minimize the use of cash. Citibank now has the impertinence to demand identification for the deposit of cash or even for payment of debt with cash regardless of the amount involved. The tellers who know me by name apologize profusely but the policy irritated me to the point that I don’t bother going into the bank. When I now use one of the 2 credit cards from the bank, I simply transfer the balance to another card from a bank that accepts my money without demanding my license or passport. I hate carrying either of them around with me.

I’ve almost stopped using cash. I use my bus pass for travel, direct debits for regular payments and a debit card for almost everything else. It is convenient and I keep better control of my finances that way. My online bank statement lists every transaction I make and I can access it at any time.

I seem to have less need for cash. I pay for a lot of things now using the contactless feature of my debit card, like vending machines and car parking.

I do go to markets and car boot sales (yard sales) and cash is needed for them

Can’t forget about the Tooth Fairy! :D

Any monetary disaster most likely, will be (is being?) instigated by the Fed.

So called currency today is the result of the Federal Reserve System creating money essentially out of thin air and then effectively loaning it to itself.

This way of doing business is untenable. Individual electronic (virtual) assets could vanish overnight.

Cash, the Reserve Notes printed on cotton and linen might still be accepted as money after such a disaster.

I think the days of cash are numbered.

Cash will never disappear entirely.
There will always be people that are off the grid, and there will always be cash transactions between individuals.

If nothing else, cash is a religious freedom. You can’t force the devout Amish to trade electronically.

Finally, lest we forget the gun lobby: ”take away the legal guns[cash] and only the criminals will have guns[cash].”

However many you want to own or do. There is no one right answer. Do you really need help with this?

Well. I guess I should volunteer.
It will be a real hardship, however.
Ok. In order to make things safe and lasting,
y’all can go ahead and send me your cash.
I am offering to help any who having problems
about this subject.
You’d be better to just cast off the problematic greenage- or credit cards, money orders, etc.
Difficult as it is, I will sacrifice
and carry on.

Admittedly, it’s a new world.

In Detroit, homeless man now takes Visa and Mastercard

Surprised that Syrian refugees have smartphones? You’re an idiot

” I keep better track of what i’m spending if I use cash.”
or
“When you use cash you don’t spend as much.”

”...the less I use cards for, the less chances there are for fraud and ID theft.”
or
“It also greatly reduces the number of times my cards are exposed, reducing the opportunities for fraud and abuse.”

”... saves card bank fees for the vendor”.

“Individual electronic (virtual) assets could vanish overnight.”

Some of the many good points. Thanks.

Once the Planned Parenthood clinics are de-funded, backroom abortion doctors will undoubtedly return to cash-only procedures.

@ibstubro The word “legitimate” in the title OP must not be visible.