How much money do you prefer to keep in your wallet?

I prefer to carry around $80 or so, and $120 if I’m feeling particularly spacious and comfortable about the money in my checking account.

When I hit about $20, it’s definitely time to add more.

None, or maybe $0.75

At least $40, and not more than about $120. If I’m traveling, at least $200. I like to be ready for small-to-moderate emergencies but not either (a) vulnerable to much of a loss or (b) susceptible to much of an impulse purchase.

Welcome back, @Trustinglife! Haven’t seen you around in ages.

Usually between $20 and $40, but I don’t like to carry cash at all, really. On a trip, I usually take ½ of our ready cash because the lowest price gas stations are often cash only, and that would be $100.

spare change, no more than $1—$5

The only time I carry more cash than that is when I’m traveling

Never more than £50.

I start out the week with $100, and that usually lasts me through the weekend, accounting for gas, lunch and incidentals at work, running into the grocery, etc. Some weeks, it lasts well into the second week.

I hate cash but I found out that I don’t trust myself with debit cards anymore. So I keep all my dispoable cash in my wallet. Dealing with money is nasty though :( yuckie bills.

Usually about $500 for emergencies. Mostly I use plastic. The bank automatically pays all the balances every month and I get everything on one statement. I’m lazy about that sort of thing.

About $50 on the average. . . depending on the time of the month, it may be as little as $20 or as much as $200.

About $1500–2000 + plastic

I only carry plastic. In Australia everyone takes Eftpos which takes the money directly out of your account, like a checking account only you use a card instead of a check. I can buy a pack of gum with it if I want because most places do not have a minimum amount. I love it, never have to worry about cash!

around four hundred, which I try to draw out once a week. then i try to use only cash, and stay away from my check card or credit cards. I find that if I go the opposite route I spend a bunch more due to a mental defect that consistently causes me to be surprised to learn that spending five dollars twenty times somehow comes out to 100 dollars gone. Sure I could write it down. But I don’t. This way, I’m forced to contend with how much I’ve spent by how much I have left.

Im 16 so I don’t have too much. I like to keep around 20, it never exceeds that…

Ideal: $100
Reality: $20
This week: .50 cents

And it’s nice to see you active again @Trustinglife.

@cprevite lol! Nice..

$20, and even then, only because the ATMs won’t let me take out less. The only thing I use cash for these days is the sandwich cart on the first floor of my office building, or the occasional parking meter (but even most of those take credit cards).

I use plastic for everything else. I pay off my balance in full every month, so it costs me nothing, and I get credit card rewards/points for doing so.

At least enough to get me home by the quickest means.

I usually on keep a few dollars if that…I almost never have cash which always leaves me struggling when I go through tolls.

I like to have about $400 normally, but lately its only been around 50–100, trying to spend less :p

Usually have about $50 – $100 in my wallet for groceries, etc. Like you, if I get down to $20, I replenish. In my library, students need to buy a print card for $1.00 if they want to print something. I am constantly amazed by how many have no cash at all on them.

@janbb conversely, I’m constantly amazed how many businesses are still operated by luddites who don’t take credit cards. :-P

@Mritty For a dollar? (You need it to buy the card that goes in the machine.)

@janbb Just last week, I charged 25¢ to my credit card, at the parking meter. I see absolutely no reason not to use credit cards for small amounts.

@MrItty – Didn’t you get an additional charge for spending so little? Most places charge extra if its below a $5 spend.

This is obviously the trend that is going to happen and it is fine. Our dispensing machines are just not yet equipped to handle it. I’m sure it will come.

@pjanaway an additional charge from whom? The credit card company? No. The business? Some do have policies that say “Minimum for credit card purchase = $X”. They’re actually not allowed to have that policy in accordance with their agreement with the credit card company, but that doesn’t stop them.

Regardless, no, I don’t run into that minimum issue. The small purchases I’m talking about are either at the grocery store (I’ll buy a gallon of milk on the card no problem) or like I referred to, at the parking meter. Neither have the minimum policy.

At the college I graduated from and now teach at, the vending machines take credit cards as well.

@MrItty – Charge from whoever is issuing the charge I meant.

Never seen a parking meter take a credit card before anyway. :) But I guess that’s cool.

@pjanaway Like I said, they’re not allowed to do that. But the only place I routinely see it is the Chinese food restaurant down the street from my office. They have a sign near the cash register saying “Credit cards $10 minimum”. That’s in violation of their CC agreement. Every once in a while when I’m in a bad mood, I get the urge to “report” them for that. But then I remember that I actually like this place for lunch every so often, and that my normal order comes out to $10.60 anyway. :-)

$0

Henry Youngman i’ve got all the money i’ll ever need if i die by four o’clock.

You should not carry money in your wallet, especially men. if a robbery should occur, the robber first takes your wallet, relieves it of your cash, and gone. i carry my “spending money” in my left front pocket of my blue jeans. a robber can now have my cashless wallet. my money is safe in another pocket. my wife learned this valuable lesson on an escalator in a department store. her wallet was inside her pocketbook. her pockebook was loaded with junk, making her wallet sit right on top and easily accesible to anyone behind her. sure enough, her wallet was taken. the thief received all of her cash. she now carries her spending money in her pants pocket.

Maybe 50 to 100 dollars at any one time. (Just not the time when you plan to roll me in the parking lot and abscond with my hard earned money, though).

Generally I have $5—$10 in my pocket and my credit card (emergencies only). Ideally, I’d like to have $40 that I can carry around but I’m a long ways off.

$40.

If I have money, I only carry like $20 but other than that I just use my card.

Don’t you mean wheelbarrow???I like to take alittle extra ;)

$20 and a blank check in wallet; a $20 bill folded up and hidden somewhere in purse for back-up.

39 Dollars. One 20, one 10, one 5, and four 1’s. That combination of bills can work for almost any cash purchase under $39, and I have my card for anything above it.

100 for the week—shopping at the farmer’s market requires cash, as do some other small purchases, like coffee and lunch where they won’t take plastic. I forget where else I spend my cash. Maybe it’s time to keep a diary again. Usually, I don’t use that much in a week, but sometimes I use more. If I don’t get a new infusion each weekend, I’m likely to run out halfway through the next week. Then I have to ask my wife to get me some, and she always gives me a hard time for wanting 100. She carries 40. That seems like such a pain to me.

$1.25 for bus fare. I find that I spend more money if I use cash, since I can never seem to find the exact change in my huge purse and end up breaking bills to cover it. I’m too disorganized a human being to handle cash.

$20.00 I use my debit card for alost everything. The $20 is for emergencies. I think I’ve had the same twenty for a few months now.

My preference is to have ~$20 in small bills for places that only take cash (diners or what have you). I take out $40 or $60 at a time maybe once a month. I use my debit card for almost everything. My bank actually rewards me for using my card – I get 10 cents every time I pay for something paperlessly (with a card, online, whatever). It’s about recycling, the program that does this also includes paper-free billing and my debit card is made of recycled plastic. And it has a pretty tree on it!

I feel uncomfortable with more than $20 and change in my wallet.

This has been fascinating. Thanks, y’all.

As I read and reflect on all the answers, I’m seeing that so much of what informs our choices about this (in addition to what’s in the bank) is what we’re comfortable with.

And comfort goes both ways. Are you more uncomfortable with, say, $200, should something happen to you? Or are you more uncomfortable with, say, $10, and have a need to ask someone to cover for you?

…The excess, indefinitely.

@Trustinglife it’s not so much the comfort level for me as it is the financial. If money is sitting in my wallet instead of my banking account, it’s not earning interest. Yeah I realize we’re talking fractions of a penny, but they’re still “my” fractions of a penny, and I want them!

Plus, seriously, how far are you ever from the nearest ATM? They’re everywhere. Unless you’re wandering through the dessert and suddenly have need for cash, you can get it in a pretty short amount of time.

I very rarely carry more than £30 in cash (about $50), as I think you shouldn’t carry more than you can afford to lose. Imagine if you got mugged while carrying a ton of money?

MIlo here; I am like Prince Charles; I let the staff pay all the bills and leave the tips. Most wallets weigh as much as I do.

@Trustinglife I’m much more uncomfortable having an excess of money in my wallet. When I do take out $60 I usually leave $20 or $40 of it at home… I live in a rough area where mugging is common. I’d be very unhappy to be relieved of more than $20.

In fact minutes ago a friend lent me a dollar because I only had $2 on me and came up 85 cents short buying a chai. It didn’t bother me – I’ll hit her back.

between £10 and £50. I never carry more than that, and if it drops below 10 it’s time to visit an ATM.