Carrying Cash

I rarely use cash nowadays.  Paying with a credit card is more convenient than paying with cash and managing pocket change.  Plus some credit cards provide a benefit for using them such as a reward on each transaction of a percentage of the purchase price.

Because I use my credit cards for all of my purchases, any cash that I put in my wallet for emergencies is likely to stay there untouched for a long time.  Of course if I lose my wallet, I will lose the cash.  I need to balance the risk of not having enough cash on me to cover a future emergency versus the risk of the potential harm from losing all of the cash if I drop my wallet.

I have decided that the amount of cash that I should carry on me at all times is just enough to make change for any bill.  This means that I can break a five-, ten-, twenty-, fifty-, or one hundred-dollar bill upon request.  Here is what I carry:

• Five one-dollar bills
• One five-dollar bill
• Two ten-dollar bills
• One twenty-dollar bill
• One fifty-dollar bill

This adds up to an even one hundred dollars.  This is a nice big round number which is easy to remember when you need to know how much cash you have on you.  One hundred dollars is enough without being too much.