Okay, so I am not fond of carrying cash. I honestly have no idea how people can walk around with hundreds of dollars in cash in their wallet. I definitely would be paranoid and constantly worried about losing the money.
But I forgot to post the other day about my new fear of cash. So typically I do not carry much cash, at most $20 in my wallet. I think it’s just safer. But DH wanted to go to a concert and was desperate so he begged me to go buy tickets early. This was not a popular band by the way, but I agreed. So while he was at class on Monday I went to the pub to buy tickets. Turns out they only took cash, so I had to go find an ATM to get cash.
B of A typically has ATMs everywhere so I began to look for one. It was almost 9 pm at night, and I was wandering around. Then I found the ATM, great, but the door lock was broken. And there were people outside and I got very nervous. Sounds crazy, but I was very worried about someone coming up to me and taking the cash I was getting out and making me take out more.
Then once I got outside I guess because I was stepping out of the ATM I felt very vulenerable. That I was basically screaming out “I have cash, I have cash” come and get it. Granted there were about 3 different beggars asking for cash and being pushy since I just came out of the ATM machine, heck who wouldn’t?
But I rushed to the pub and bought our tickets. I meet up with DH for dinner and told him. He said, don’t bother getting cash again at night alone. It is dangerous and it does scream out you have money when you walk out of an ATM.
So I must be getting old. I never used to worry about my safety and certainly I never thought of being mugged. But I guess I’m getting more concerned that I’m not as fit as I once was and more aware of surroundings. Whereas in college I’d walk at night alone to an ATM and never have a second thought.
So no more cash out of ATMs at night alone. I guess you can say I have a fear of cash (or mugged).
6 responses so far ↓
1 Jim ~ mydebtblog.com // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:24 am
I don’t think cash is your problem. You have a fear that if you have it on you someone is going to come after you and get it. That sounds like paranoia when you’re carrying a sizeable amount of cash. On the same note though, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t feel some sort of emotion when they buy something and lay down a crisp $100 bill rather than swiping a card. At least if the card is stolen we can turn it off and get any money taken back. I wouldn’t go to an ATM alone at night. Some places are not as safe at night as they are during the day. Hope the tickets were worth the trouble.
2 LivingAlmostLarge // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:30 am
DH’s favorite band ever. So it was worth it.
3 Ashley @ Wide Open Wallet // Jul 2, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I never carry cash either. I’m not afraid of getting robbed, I just think it’s such a pain.
4 Meg // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I never really try to carry cash and I do try to avoid carrying a lot of it needlessly. Occasionally I may have some leftover from a cash only transaction, but I rarely put cash in my wallet just to have it there. I use my debit card most of the time and I also have a credit card just in case.
I shudder when I see my mom go through her purse. She tends to carry a lot of cash and I’m so scared that she’s going to get in trouble that way — granted, she seems to have made it this far o.k. She buys most things with either cash or check (the paper kind that I haven’t used but a few times ever). I still hope someday that I can convince her to try using a debit card instead of carrying so much cash, but she still doesn’t seem to get this whole online banking thing.
5 Fabulously Broke // Jul 2, 2008 at 10:21 pm
BF carries $500 at any given time. I freak out over $60. but I’m getting better
6 chris // Jul 3, 2008 at 3:09 am
I have trouble hanging on to cash. Especially the smaller the denomination. It’s tougher for me to break a 20 or 50 than it is to lay out a dollar or five.
I never worry too much about nights and taking money from the ATM. I’ve found that females tend to feel more vulnerable. My wife constantly worries about such things. While I try to be mindful of my surroundings and don’t flash the cash, I don’t worry about it much.
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