I noticed an advert the other day for maestro cards where somoene writes a letter saying goodbye to their cash as they have fallen in love with their debit card instead.

Do you tend to use coins and bank notes to pay for stuff, or are you becoming ever more reliant on plastic ?

I have been making an effort to use cash more often as I find it makes me more aware of my spending.

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Apparently there is a shift towards cash, as people tighten finances in the economic shudder
Interestingly one MP reported some of his constituents take the calculator with them shopping

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same here - for a while now, I have been ruthless where I use my card but only as a last resort and for things like petrol.

So I take out £10 cash and try to "survive" on it for the whole week. Seems to be working quite well so far but now that my car is broken and I need to use public transport for the moment so obviously the £10 cash does not last more than 1 day.

#sigh#

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I use my debit card all the time and rarely have any cash on me. At work it is a cashless site so we just charge up a plastic card and use that to pay for food and drinks.

The only time I use a credit card is when I am away with work and need to claim back expenses or if I am buying stuff on holiday.

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Here they are trying to get people to use a combined Oyster travel card / barclays credit card / £10 quickpay all in one card. Do you guys outside of London have that? The quickpay thing lets you swipe it without having to type in PIN to pay for things less than £10.

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Not yet.....we don't get fancy stuff like that up North.

I can see in the current climate how going back to using cash can be better to help you manage finances.

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oops double post

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nope not here. I currently live just outside Newcastle and unfortunately, there is no one card that would cover the two modes of transport (train at £4 then metro at £1.30 - one way!).

I have used Oyster card when I was in London for a weekend and it is a great deal. Wish there is something similar here - which is a shame because a lot of people do commute into Newcastle city from surrounding towns.

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They have that quick pay thing in some northern Prets. I don't like it. I also need an Oyster card.

As for cash vs card - I agree with the if you take money out at the start of the week, that is all you have idea, but it doesn't always work with me.

It's strange how folks are still averse to paying for small amounts with their card - what is the difference, the transaction doesn't really take that much longer these days.

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I'm starting to use cash more and more. I know how much I have for that week and I resist buying things on the debit card. I need to get better at saving.

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