by Bridget Webber

Created on: March 08, 2009   Last Updated: March 09, 2010

It is sensible to keep some cash in your wallet, but exactly how much cash it is necessary to carry? On the one hand if you carry a lot of cash, you run the risk of losing it via theft or carelessness. On the other hand, if you don't keep any cash in your wallet, you may come across a situation where you would have benefited by having some cash to hand.

Most of us choose to rely on our credit or debit cards as the main form of spending power in our wallets. This is because if fraudulent criminal activity occurs with regards to our card then we can probably recover our money from our card provider if our card is insured. We can also instruct our bank to cancel our card immediately if we discover that it has been stolen to prevent a loss of funds.

Those of us who decide not to carry any money in the form of cash with us however, are likely to run into difficulties. It may be that we need cash for a parking meter or to put into a vending machine so that we can purchase a product. We may also find that we want to make a relatively small purchase from a store.

Some stores display signs which state that they will not accept a cheque or credit card for items that cost under a certain amount of money. By doing this they are violating their agreement with their provider, so technically this probably isn't legal. But there again, they do have to pay a percentage of the cost price of the article paid for in these ways to their provider for the luxury of us having used such a service. Therefore it is kinder to pay for an inexpensive item with cold, hard cash.

Other items or services which we may need to pay for with cash are taxi fares, stamps, tips, donations, mobile phone top up cards, pay phones and a plethora of other small fees which we experience receiving daily for essential items. Not having cash in our wallets can prove to be very inconvenient and may leave us feeling stressed if this prevents us from achieving our objectives.

Exactly how much money you decide to carry in your wallet depends on what the particular expenses are that you are likely to encounter. If you lead a simple life and travel and shop in areas which are of average wealth and which provide average services then you may only need to carry as little as $20 in cash. But if you attend expensive functions or have allot of running around town to do then you may need far more cash at your disposal.

What you intend to do while you are out should have a bearing on the amount of money in your wallet. If you are simply popping to the library you may just need enough cash to cover over due book fees. If you are attending a lavish dinner dance in an affluent area of town then you may need plenty of cash for a variety of reasons.

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