Are we a cashless society?

[sydneybubhub]

More than a decade ago, it was predicted that we would become a cashless society. But have we?

With EFTPOS available at most local corner stores, and more credit card reward programs luring us in, one would be forgiven for thinking we are headed that way fast.

What are your best tips on ways to manage your money and make the family budget stretch?

[Angike]

We pay our bills before doing anything else. And I mean anything. So if we have to miss out on something, it's not a bill that we will be charged extra on it will be clothes or something like that.

We also put money in our savings account as soon as we get paid so we don't get to the end of the week and think "oh well no money left".

(Our savings account is one that we both have to go into the bank to sign before we can withdraw so that never happens :D)

Also, when we have paid bills, I withdaw all of my cash so I only have to do it once rather than pay for 10 different things on EFTPOS.

[Susan Mac]

We use our credit card for everything - but only if we have the money for it in another account. We have a rewards programme and make $50 a year on it after fees, and never end up paying interest.
A fortnight ago our card was cancelled, and I finally got the new one today. I found it really challenging to pay only cash for that time, and I didn't like carrying several hundred dollars around with me. I did spend a little less during the time, but couldn't keep it up long term. I need to consider more whether I really need to buy that, rather than stop using credit.
I would normally only get out $100 cash a week between the two of us, and some weeks we wouldn't use that much. So I guess we are almost a cashless household.

[aardvark]

I carry cash when I go to the market for obvious reasons.

The rest of the time I pay by eftpos or credit card.

The really difficult thing is sending your teenager overseas before the age of 16 with the school on exchange. Travellers cheques are not as readily accepted as they used to be, and they can't have a credit card until the age of 16, even as a secondary card holder on a parent's account. We had to send her with cash for the most part, with her ATM card just as a backup in case she ran short, on account of the punitive overseas ATM fees.

We are definitely heading towards a cashless society IMO, though.

[Susan Mac]

but it is a little scary. the reason our card was cancelled was because someone tried to access it. Fortunately our bank has good security and picked up on it straight away. but the lack of physical money does make theft and fraud easier.

[supermumof3]

i def prefer to eftpos everything the only thing i ever have cash for is swimming and tennis lessons for kids and school excursions etc. and that drives me nuts i always have to go and get money out to pay it.

[MummaBear03]

I've never owned a credit card. Can't imagine I will any time soon either. I think so long as we have a roof over our head, fuel in the car, food in our tummies, and we're not behind on any bills, we're doing well. We don't get new clothes very often, in fact all my clothes are well over a year old except the dress I bought for my brother's wedding (cost me $50 down from $175!!!)

[Seekrit]

I hvae a visa debit card which makes it hard to withdraw money - every ATM I use I'm slogged with $2.50 and every time I press "Savings" I am slogged with $1 fee... so I often have little cash because I say "credit" and can't withdraw then.

I get so embarressed when I'm buying something for $3 and I don't have enough coin

[~mia&ryan~]

We use the credit card for all our groceries etc and then pay it out each month. For everything else we use cash. Much easier to keep track of what you are spending when you are actually handing over cold hard cash.

[chellegoth]

I don't have a credit card and I won't be getting one. I use cash for almost everything.

[tally]

We have our mortgage set up so that all the cash we have in the bank reduces the interest on our loan, so we use our credit cards during the month and then swipe at the end of the month. I very rarely use cash but always have a small amount on hand because you cant use a cc everywhere.

[deb1234]

:iagree: we are the same, keep the money in our savings acc for the mortgage and pay everything on our credit card. then at the end of the month we completely wipe our credit card.

i'm from nz and i can't believe how many places over here DON'T have eftpos. we always get stuck at the counter with no cash! imo there are still too many places that don't take eftpos/credit. i think its much safer to carry a card than cash.

[shanz]

i chose card, but some cash.
We generally have a small amount of cash, we have visa debit and use it for everything. Dont have a line of credit and :fingerscrossed:never will.
I use internet banking for all bills, or the cheque book.

[mastermum12345]

We are with a credit union and as there ATM's are not everywhere like most major banks If I paid EFPOS for everything my transaction fees would be through the roof - Soooooo - I go down to my banks ATM machines take money out and pay with cash.

Until we stopped getting slugged with fees for using "other non " what ever banks ATM's your with , I will continue to use cash :D

As for the CC - I hate using that thing at the best of times - For us its an emergency use only option :)

[Duchessa]

I use cash, card and cheque. Most of our business transactions are done by cheque (probably around 95%) - I'd say we write around 200-300 cheques a year. Most of our personal stuff is transacted with card and cash in approx equal amounts.

[Duchessa]

If I paid EFPOS for everything my transaction fees would be through the roof

This is the reason I use the credit card a fair bit - you can do all your transactions for the month, pay the bill on time and not pay a single transaction fee - whoever you are with.

[phineas]

What are your best tips on ways to manage your money and make the family budget stretch?

EFTPOS is my downfall! Small amounts here and there, they add up very quickly more often than not I'm not really aware of how much I'm spending - I just check my balance and find that there is far less than I anticipated!

Budget wise, for me I find it much better to withdraw the cash I need for the week and just use that so I can keep much better tabs on how much I'm spending.

But I rarely do that :p

[mysonroger]

:iagree: we are the same, keep the money in our savings acc for the mortgage and pay everything on our credit card. then at the end of the month we completely wipe our credit card.

.

this is what we do too. requires great discipline but when you see those years coming off your mortgage, its worth the while.

with my own personal spending, i am now trying to move toward cash only as i don't want to waste so much money on transaction fees. previous, i had always put everything on EFTPOS - but i got sick of the fees.

[kymmy]

I use cash most of the time but occassionally use EPTPOS.

[drewid]

I hate swiping cards...I prefer to have my cash in my hand and know exactly what I have available to spend.

[Ethereal]

No, I don't believe we are a cashless society as yet but one day it will be exactly that. I also feel that when this happens money might be misunderstood by the coming generations.

I personally find that cash is more tangible, so most of my daily dealings with money are with cash.
Credit & eftpos cards sometimes have their uses and can be convenient at times but only because we are headed towards being cashless and cash in some instances can be slow and inconvenient. Eg: buying something from ebay etc....

[WizzFizz]

I rarely ever have cash on me anymore. I might take out $20 to cover random bits and pieces (like parking and milk or bread etc.) but mostly I BPAY everything!!

[Freya]

I never have cash on me unless I have gone to a place and they don't have eftpos then I go to the machine it is really bad, I need to stop doing it because of the surcharges alot of people have for using cards along with the bank fees. I just don't think of it.

[bAaM]

I pay with eftpos and keep a little bit of cash on me.

[jorey]

I hardly have cash on me. I love eftpos because i can track my spending online and have a record of everything i spent. I can also track what my husband spends money on because it's all from the same bank accounts:laughing:. We also use credit card for big spending but we pay it off before the interest kick in every month.

[ThomasMum]

I only have cash for emergency ($20) the rest we pay with our credit cards to accrue points etc and always pay them in full each month.

My DH, inlaws & my family are all doing the same things, cash for emergency only.

You don't really want to carry big cash around just incase. DH lost his money clip long ago luckily its only has $5- on it, soon enough AMEX called us because the wonderful person who found it call the AMEX people, he didnt lost his cards except the 5 notes :yes:

[Mummabear]

We used to be with a credit union and had an account with a visa debit card, but I got so sick of all the fees and charges. I had been putting off changing banks because of the hassle of the direct debits, etc, but we finally did it just before christmas and it's wonderful. We are now with a bank that charges $6 per month for unlimited transactions. DH gets paid in cash (because his boss is slack) so he banks all of it on the way home from work and then we use the card for everything, usually only carrying a small amount of cash with us. We're not doing fantastically at sticking within budget so I'm looking for other ways to better manage it (hence why I came looking in this thread, lol).

I would start using cash all the time instead of the debit card or eftpos but I am petrified of standing at the checkout and not having enough money to pay.

[Widget]

I prefer to pay cash, but seeing as bills are paid online and there isn't much left after that, we rarely actually see cash...

[rowiechb]

Bit of both;)

[diesal444]

We have our mortgage set up so that all the cash we have in the bank reduces the interest on our loan, so we use our credit cards during the month and then swipe at the end of the month. I very rarely use cash but always have a small amount on hand because you cant use a cc everywhere.

:thumbsup: same as us. This works really well for us, and we have managed to pay alot off our mortgage. The only thing with this type of set up is discipline but the benefits are definitely there. :yes:

[11Eleven11]

I have our budget on an Excel spreadsheet where I've worked out EVERYTHING that has to be paid. We get paid weekly, so it's worked out on a weekly basis. Obviously. LOL. With things like car insurance, home insurance etc (as it's paid monthly), I break it down into a weekly cost and have it automatically transferred (using internet banking) into my Savings account. Then the day before it's due to be directly debited from our Everyday account (which is monthly), I have it set up so it transfers the full amount back into the Everyday account so it's there. SOOOOOO many times before had I been stung with being unaware when it comes out and not having enough money in there or more embarrassingly, being at the shops thinking I had X amount of money to cover a quick grocery trip only to have my card declined. I have incorporated this method into ALL my expenses (including the hairdresser, lol - that's a necessity!) and mostly combining the weekly break-up transfer amount so I don't have a million different transactions on my statement. I found before that I was often forced to put everything onto my VISA card. I was getting into major debt with that because I simply was not managing my budget enough. This system is really working for me, and I don't have to think about it as it is all set up to just automatically do it. I have a budget of how much cash I get out a week to pay for groceries & other weekly expenses so once that's gone, it's gone. And I'm avoiding that nasty bank fee of $35 if you have completely drained your account (which would often happen before without me even realising) :)

Sorry. That was rather long :ecomcity: I'm new here. You'll see that I have trouble explaining things concisely :o

[thatgirl]

I dont have a credit card....and never will...

I use cash for everything if I used my card it would cost me a fortune in fee's

[subaruforestermum]

I couldnt vote, as I put everything on EFTPOS, not credit. We are lucky enough to have the money to do so usually....

I dont carry cash, yet dont use a credit card. Interest rate is too darn high.

[munchkins]

I do not have a credit card. On my pay day I usually take all my pay out a pay by cash

[Yummy Mummy of 5]

I prefer to pay cash than use a card (EFTPOS or Credit) as then I know how much money I am really spending :yes:

[secondtimearound2]

We pay cash these days. We used to eftpos everything until we starting getting charged heaps of $$ in fees and over spending :o. Now every week I take out what I need for the week within our budget and know that the funds need to last a week!! It has been working for us and we have been able to put money away too. I do pay bills via netbank bpay...we have unlimited bpay transactions. We don't have a CC anymore either.

[joankiss]

As I know most of single parents are using both of them for their daily life. Credit card to cash just like email to letterl. it can not take place of cash in next 10 years.

[MummyGoingMad]

What I do
-I am a sucker for budgets... I write up everything we spend and what we aim to spend, I've found it makes a *huge* difference because we found we were spending sooo much on non essentials that we could easily cut down on. It also makes me more conscious about saving, I do running totals so if I've already spent lots in a month I will try to cut down.
-I try to buy things in bulk or on sale so I dont just buy things cos we "want" them at the supermarket, more like I look for specials and good value for the amount, quality and ingredients.
-I dont have a credit card!! DH has one and I could easily have a linked one but I'd prefer to pay eftpos, because a cc is too much temptation for me !! That way I can keep track of how much I'm spending and have left.
-We are trying to pay our mortgage off asap, once we put a big enough dent in that then we can concentrate on saving for a holiday etc.

[lulu 2]

Cashless definately not here in WA ,if you want to eat at some of our lovely riverside cafes or enjoy a bite at kings park cafe you will need cash as there is no eftpos along with small boutiques and even a toy shop I visited recently. Otherwise there is a sign next to most registers that requires $10 purchase for electronic funds to be used so once again out comes the coin purse which is full of change for the parking meters I use every day at work and the trolleys at the shops that need a $2 coin to free them from the pack. I am sure we will have more plastic facilities in the future but the card will never hold the same value to us as cash.

[Owen&Noah's_mum]

a lot of places still have a minimum of $10 for EFTPOS so i prefer to pay cash. we don't own a credit card.