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[alway]

I've got a credit card, but haven't used it in well over half a year. I just use my debit card, since I'm terrible at paying bills and would screw myself over by missing payments. Though I do have 40k in debt split evenly between my car and student loans. But even after making all my payments and such, I'm saving about 1k a month (though most of that goes to paying down principle on the student loans).

Thing is, I find accumulating stuff to be burdensome. I'm a game developer, and so for the next 20 years or so, I anticipate moving across the country every couple years. My goal is to keep little enough stuff that I can find out I need to move one day, and be on the road by the next. Anything much bigger than my computers will simply be tossed out.

[nenjin]

After missing a car payment or two when I was a teenager, I swore I would stay out of debt.

Money is just not something I want to think about on a daily basis. So I don't. I keep my costs reasonable. I use stuff until it breaks for the most part (Computer parts being the one outstanding exception.) I check my bank account every couple of days to make sure I've got enough to spend on my debit card, and that's pretty much it. I'm very careful about setting up recurring payments, because that means I either have to a) check my bank account much more frequently, and possibly miss payments and fuck up my credit score or b) keep stupid amounts of cash in checking.

I think it's kind of why I dread getting a home. I don't want space that begs to be filled with shit bought from Target and Crate & Barrel. And while this is a lame excuse, it's partly why I'm edgy about relationships. I'm unsure about getting into a relationship with someone where suddenly, their spending habits are my spending habits and the two likely won't align.

Although, having lived this way for so long, my credit score is non-existent as an adult, something that will create problems later down the road. I know I can do the normal routine of getting a credit card, using it and paying it down immediately......but seriously, fuck the culture of Credit in this country. I'm not playing that fucking game. I'd rather throw $10,000 down in cash than arrange it as a payment.

This is honestly a luxury of being single though. Parents and home owners can't get away doing that unless they're living below the poverty line.

And Sappho, the differences between America and Europe isn't solely about consumption. There is a fundamentally different appreciation of space use too, and the value of the old vs. the new. America still has the concept of unlimited space guiding its thinking. It's why our houses are so huge, why everyone has a lawn, why even apartments are roomy compared to European housing. Europe made due with what it had and space in a medieval city was a premium. That thinking still carries over into the modern age. Going to Europe, it took a while to get used to how cramped everything felt. Bars were tiny and filled to the gills with people shoulder to shoulder. Restaurants felt like tables were closer, so you were half sharing your meal with others. And Europe has hands down the craziest bathrooms ever. It was kind of a culture shock to me. Everything feels a lot more intimate in Europe whether you want it to be or not. For Americans, with our "personal space" and our being used to large, open spaces Europe definitely feels different. You have to go to somewhere like New York, one of the really ancient American cities, to get even close to the same kind of aesthetic.

[wierd]

I feel naked if my bank account dips below a positive balance of 500$.

I dont really feel safe, until it has a balance of around 2000$.  I live like a church mouse until I meet this psychological requirement.

Even then, I dont go on binge buying sprees. my house is a 25k bachelor pad, and my furnishings are below even Ikea standards.

I too use things until they wear out.

[Sappho]

At one point last week, my sister had to pay for something for me and I gave her cash in return. It was about $40. Her eyes went wide and she said she's never had that much cash sitting around at once, and it was making her nervous. She literally didn't know what to do with it. EVERYTHING in America is paid for by card now, with almost no security. There are places where you can just wave your card over a little reader and you're done, no signature or anything. People seem startlingly unworried about things like theft. I asked my sister about it and she said it's fine, if anyone stole her card she'd just cancel it and she wouldn't have to pay for the stolen stuff. I'm really not so sure it would be that easy.

Even she admitted that she probably would spend less money if she carried cash. She felt uncomfortable with just $40 in her pocket, but she's fine with a little piece of plastic that's connected to literally all of her money. She buys stuff like money isn't even real - because her money *isn't* real. It's just a number in a computer somewhere.

I'm sure there are plenty of intelligent people in the states who are careful about money, but I don't think my sister's situation is unique at all. She's very intelligent and hard working, but she has it being shoved down her throat from every direction that the way she's living is the *right* way, especially since she has a child. I remember reading an article a while back about how the fact that most Americans who finish college start off their lives with a crippling amount of debt which many people will almost never pay off (or at least it will take many years), this sends the message right from square one that having debt is a normal part of life, and people just don't worry about it very much. I was lucky to only have $10,000 to pay back when I finished school, but I know people with over $100,000, and it's hardly uncommon.

The only time I ever use my bank card is to get cash out of the machine, or on the rare occasion that I need to buy something and forget to bring enough cash with me. Fees for using cards are high here, and security is as well - you need both a signature (often with photo ID) AND your PIN just to use a card in the store. Furthermore, using a card takes forever to get through the system. Cash is quick and easy. If someone ahead of you in line pulls out a card to pay for something, everyone groans. In America, it's the opposite. I paid in cash and the cashiers always looked at it like they weren't sure what to do with it. They didn't even know how to give proper change - they had to count it twice to make sure they did it right. Things like, something cost $8.02, so I give them $10.02 to avoid a pocketful of change, and they couldn't figure out what to do.

I'm really glad I live in a place where cards are not widely used. I definitely feel better having cash, and as others have said, you definitely spend a lot less when it's real money you're handing over.

New rage now: I typed all that over 2 hours ago and my internet went out partway through. I tried calling the ISP, which sold me on their contract on the promise that they have English-language customer support, but as always, I got the recorded message "we're sorry, there are currently no English-speaking representatives available." That's the only result I've gotten for the past FOUR MONTHS of regularly trying to contact support due to regular outages and mysterious increases in my bill which shouldn't be there. I will have to get a Czech friend to come with me to their headquarters soon, just to sort out these basic issues. If you ever find yourself in the Czech Republic, for the love of all that is sacred, DO NOT sign a contract with O2. They are the devil.

[nenjin]

There are still a few groups here in American for whom, cash is king. Mainly drug dealers, people in rural areas and rednecks. Now that sounds really prejudicial, but think of it from their perspective. Drug dealers don't interact with the system by necessity as well as choice (although that just changed to some extent with pot being legalized in Colorado.) Rural people aren't living the technicolor future dream of wireless high speed NSA surveillance, and they're proud of that fact. Although even farmers need to buy several thousands dollars worth of feed on credit, because they can't straight up afford it. And then there's rednecks who take pride in being not what everyone else is. Anything that can be done "under the table" should be, because it's our god-given American right to deal in cash and in secret.

But yeah. It should be telling the kind of groups that still value and respect cash here in America. Each one of those groups may have some form of reality TV show or Nat Geo. spot, but they're considered almost a counterculture in America for the way they operate.

[Dutchling]

I only use cash in bars...

[wierd]

While the recent "Target holiday disaster" is poignant about americans overusing plastic, In the general sense multi-nationally I would also advise against using the "Really real" credit card for online purchases.

Instead, if you intend to do some online shopping get yourself a reloadable disposable visa debit card.

Walmart carries such things in the US under the "Greendot card" moniker, as well as their own "Walmart Moneycard".

Such things process identically to a visa, but with the added hassle of having to reload it from time to time. The benefit though is that it cant be overdrafted, and will instead decline the transaction if exhausted. So, if you use that instead of your normal credit card for online purchases, you can avoid being banged hard because some retailer doesnt know how to sanitize their SQL queries.

[Helgoland]

I use cash for everything. Well, almost everything: I get money from my parents via bank, but since I don't shop online and insist on using cash for groceries and such due to the "spend less money" effect, my credit card is almost exclusively used for withdrawing money. In the past year, I've used it maybe twice to pay for stuff; and I just noticed that I'm not entirely sure that the thing I'm referring to is in fact a credit card.
Cash rules!

[Dutchling]

I use my credit card solely for Amazon. It's set to automatically withdraw money from my bank account at the end of the month so I can't really use it to get debts or anything.

I am getting maximum student loans though. I need my new computer :V

[Descan]

I have a credit card, with a limit of 1k (which it's at, because I'm not working and haven't been for a few months, and I've had the card for a few years)

Once I get a job and pay it down (after saving for out-of-pocket tuition, in case I'm accepted) I'll see if I can't limit it to 100. I don't THINK 1k is the lowest I can go on it, but maybe it is.

I want a credit card because online buying, steam stuff and new computer parts, items I like, and I'd rather shop online and find a deal for something I need rather than take public transit across the city and waste a day trying to find a good product for cheap.

Even then, 1k feels like a lot of debt, and a lot of people around here agree. Canada's like a mongrel of Europe and America in a lot of ways, culturally and perspectively.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I can easily see my niece inheriting my sister's debt, many years from now (I hope) when she dies.

Just to note, you cannot inherent debt under normal circumstances in America. If your sister's estate is worth less than her overall debt your niece (and everyone else) will lose any inheritance, but she won't actually get debt even if it isn't paid off.

[Lagslayer]

I'm an American living in the suburbs of a city. I do not like using electronic payment methods because I would have no real control over the security of that money. I use bills and coins whenever possible, because if someone tries to steal that, I always have the option to knock them on their ass (which I'm pretty confident I could do, even if they had a gun). With a card, I'm just hoping the bank does what they say they are going/supposed to do. Also, electronic currency can be stolen from literally anywhere, but physical currency you have to actually be present to take it.

I don't like security which I have no control over. Reimbursement ≠ protection. Dern kompewturs.

[Bouchart]

I can easily see my niece inheriting my sister's debt, many years from now (I hope) when she dies.

Just to note, you cannot inherent debt under normal circumstances in America. If your sister's estate is worth less than her overall debt your niece (and everyone else) will lose any inheritance, but she won't actually get debt even if it isn't paid off.

Generally true, but not in the case of co-signing a loan.

As for credit cards, I have one but don't remember the last time I actually used it.  Maybe 5 years ago or so.  I keep it locked at home.  Pay cash for everything.

No, I don't live out in the boonies, either.

[AlleeCat]

I generally don't like credit programs because I prefer not to spend money I don't actually have. I feel like getting a credit card for emergencies, though. For stuff I need immediately but can't afford.

[Sappho]

I generally don't like credit programs because I prefer not to spend money I don't actually have. I feel like getting a credit card for emergencies, though. For stuff I need immediately but can't afford.

In my experience, the definition of the word "need" tends to change based on what is available.