Its hard to imagine a time when we didn't have some sort of digital payment. But there was a time when it was either cash or cheque. Personally I never had to use a cheque but from what I knew of it looked so cumbersome I'm glad I missed out. These days you pretty much have two choices, get your cash out or grab your card. If you are really fancy the latter means simply waving your card or phone over the payment device. But what does that all mean if you are on a budget? What are the pros and cons for those of us trying to balance the family books?
The benefits of cash
Even though cashless is becoming more and more popular, there's still a decent chunk of people that insist that cash is the best way to spend. Below are a few reasons why that may be.
Total control of expenditure
Some see it as a way to have total control over their money. They know exactly how much money they take out of the ATM and exactly how much change they have in their pockets. This gives some people a form of comfort and makes overspending easier to avoid. Yes if you are using a digital form of payment you can track online, but depending on your bank payments may not show up on your balance for days, making it hard to get a true picture of what you are spending.
Money tracking
It can be easier to keep track of what you are actually spending from day to day. With the contactless payment method it can be so easy to overspend and or just forget how much you planned to spend at all. For lots of people the idea of taking out just the money they plan to spend that day is ideal.
Distrust of the digital world
With all the ways people can be scammed these days no wonder people avoid using digital payments. Lots people have distrust of the internet and have never bought something online. Like my Mum for example. They trust cash and they always will.
The benefits of going cashless
Less and less people are using physical cash especially during this Covid era. Just ten years ago in the UK, cash was used in 6 out of ten payments. Now that's down to fewer than 1 in 10! Lets look at why its so popular. This is my preferred form of payment, so apologies if we seemed a little more excited for it.
Ease of use
Ever tried to pay for something on Amazon with cash? Aint gonna happen. Whether you are buying in store or online easy ways you can pay is obvious.
Speed
If you are in a rush contactless payment is the way to go. Hover your phone or card over the payment device and you are ready to go. No need to search through your pockets for change anymore when you just want a breakfast bar for the trip
Tracking your expenditures
Although there can be issues with digital payments not showing up for a day or two on your bank balance (were looking at you Santander), most banks make it super easy to track exactly what you spending and what you spent it on.
You don't even have to get your card out!
Instead of grabbing your wallet out and having to find the right card you can literally just pass your phone over the payment device. Our phones our in our hands most of the time anyway so this makes an incredible amount of sense.
Its clean
It goes without saying that we should be touching as few things as possible during these strange times. Grabbing change from someone whose hygiene habits you have no knowledge of is far from ideal. Covid can hang around on surfaces for a decent amount of time making cash a perfect form of transmission. Ugh.
Final thoughts
The pandemic has increased the use of cashless payments incredibly over the past few months. People that had no intention of ever going cashless have had second thoughts due to how the virus can be transmitted. For me that's a factor but the ease of use, only using the exact money that you want and being able to track exactly what you spend it on seals the deal for me. With our family being on a strict budget contactless payment is the only way to go With that said if you still choose to use cash I can see your point of view, but the benefits of going contactless far outweigh keeping a load of change in your pocket. But of course as always the choice is yours!
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