credit or cash

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Do you find your spend more with credit? Do you find that you spend more with cash? I can tell you it hurts me to whip out the credit card as I sit there thinking about whether I really want to charge something and have it show up on my account. But then with cash if I give myself $40 (i usually carry that much) I could not for the life of me tell you where the heck I spent that money if I don't have it anymore. It's like .... "hmmm i pulled out $20 and bought something and then i don't know". So it's not a good deal for me. For me the mental pain of thinking do I really need to pull out the CC and charge that is pain and suffering.

[disneysteve]

Nope. I'm much more disciplined using my credit card, plus there is a paper trail of that spending which doesn't exist with cash. Credit cards are much better for budgeting purposes in that regard.

However, I realize that I am not the typical American. Many people see credit cards as almost free money. They charge today with no concern about what happens when the bill comes. As long as they can swing the minimum payment, they're happy. They don't care about the 29.9% interest they're paying or how much that new sweater or pair of sneakers ends up costing them in the long run. Those folks would be much better to stick to cash. If you only have $40 in your pocket when you go to the mall, the most you can possibly spend is $40. If, however, you walk in with a credit card with a $10,000 limit, you could potentially spend that much.

[Like2Plan]

Do you find your spend more with credit? Do you find that you spend more with cash? I can tell you it hurts me to whip out the credit card as I sit there thinking about whether I really want to charge something and have it show up on my account. But then with cash if I give myself $40 (i usually carry that much) I could not for the life of me tell you where the heck I spent that money if I don't have it anymore. It's like .... "hmmm i pulled out $20 and bought something and then i don't know". So it's not a good deal for me. For me the mental pain of thinking do I really need to pull out the CC and charge that is pain and suffering.

Ha ha -- I think I have the same $5.00 bill I put in my pocketbook a year ago... I haven't had too many opportunities to spend cash in the past year....

[kork13]

I think it first goes without saying that many of us here are not your average consumer.

In my mind, cash is already spent the moment that I have it in my wallet. So spending cash has much less emotional "pain" attached to it, while taking cash from an ATM or charging something to my card is more impactful to me. I'm more generous when I'm using cash, and will spend it almost without a thought. So I intentionally only keep <$50 on me at a time (currently $37), and will deposit anything much more than that. I also just don't really spend cash on almost anything.

I'm more deliberate about credit card spending, because I see that as something future-me had to manage & pay for... I need to make sure the money is in my account come time to pay the bill (in full), whereas with cash, I know I've got the money right now, because I've got it sitting in my hand.

[cypher1]

I definitely spend more (which still isn't a lot compared to friends) with a credit card versus cash. Especially with everything online, shutdown last year so spending nothing on going out, and convenience of services like Amazon. I don't feel it's a problem, and I think was more based on boredom.

I think for the majority of us as spenders, psychologically it's just simpler to swipe a card for a transaction while dealing with it later, than physically handing over cash each time. One other piece I do is barely buying items on sale (excluding groceries). Unless I was already planning to make the purchase, regardless of a sale. I used to fall for upgrading an item (mainly in electronics) when another friend told me about a sales/promo on it.

[HundredK]

I spend every single penny I can on credit because I want the cashback rewards. My statements don't ever show a balance, I just pay them off the day before the statement closes, they always report zero on my credit report. I love cashback rewards. Plus, buying something with credit cards is much less prone to problems with fraud than using something like your debit card. Credit cards have way more protection.

[disneysteve]

In my mind, cash is already spent the moment that I have it in my wallet.

I'm more generous when I'm using cash, and will spend it almost without a thought.

I'm more deliberate about credit card spending, because I see that as something future-me had to manage & pay for... I need to make sure the money is in my account come time to pay the bill (in full)

I could have written this post verbatim. This is me exactly.

[myrdale]

Cash or credit...... or debit.

I am nearly 100% debit for all expenses (less paying utility bills by check).

I do have a pair of in store credit cards, which average <$100 per month just to worship FICO.

Otherwise, if I can not pay for it out right, I don't buy it.

If I pass some Shriners or Girl Scouts collecting money, I am pretty likely to reach into the glove box of the truck and pull out $20 for them. That is nearly the only time my hands touch cash.

[cypher1]

I spend every single penny I can on credit because I want the cashback rewards.

That's the main factor for me on default CC (travel points) for all purchases whenever available. I don't even know or care what my interest rate is since it's always paid in full each month. I also love that my college doesn't charge a merchant fee for charging tuition on my card.

[HundredK]

I realized I never answered your question about whether I spend more on credit vs cash. I spend way less using credit because I track and log every single credit transaction. If I end up with cash for any reason, I dunno where it goes, just used on random things. But I can't remember the last time I've needed cash for anything at all.

[bjl584]

I pretty much put everything on a card.
I carry cash, but I don't use it much

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I pretty much put everything on a card.
I carry cash, but I don't use it much

Which way do you spend more?

Kork I have to call out that you may be right as to why cash slips through my fingers. I don't keep more than 2 $20 = $40 in my wallet. Probably because if I see it I spend it and don't have to worry about paying off the CC. With the credit card I know i have to be careful to afford paying it off.

[kork13]

Kork I have to call out that you may be right as to why cash slips through my fingers. I don't keep more than 2 $20 = $40 in my wallet. Probably because if I see it I spend it and don't have to worry about paying off the CC. With the credit card I know i have to be careful to afford paying it off.

Yep. I keep my checking account balance relatively low (<1 month's expenses), and just manage the cash flow. So I know that if we add something big to our credit card (or if the overall amount is bigger than normal), I need to actively manage having enough in the account to pay the bill when the autopay rolls in. Cash just doesn't offer that second step of accountability to myself.

[Nutria]

Do you find your spend more with credit? Do you find that you spend more with cash? ... But then with cash if I give myself $40 ... I could not for the life of me tell you where the heck I spent that money if I don't have it anymore.

This is me. My former wife and I used to be wild CC spenders, but got that under control by strictly following a budget. Now I pay everything electronically (be that CC, Zelle, ACH withdrawal).

Cash is for really small stuff and when there's a regional power outage, and stores can't accept CC.

[Fishindude77]

Don't know as I spend either more freely than the other, but I prefer to use cash and almost always carry $500 or more for incidental purchases.
Probably weird, but I just don't like paying a big credit card bill, or any kind of bill for that matter.