Victoria S

Cash is often easier to manage, especially for people on low income, for the he elderly with limited online skills, and for people with life situations and/or factors that impact their money management skills. EG paying by cash can be a coping mechanism advised to people with impulsivity struggles.

It can help for low income cos when you can physically organise your cash for different bills and payments which isn't something you can do online. Which is why I prefer cash. It's common when on benefits for the money to run out after the fist week or two and then rest of the month being stressful and tense. It's not as bad for me these days, since I started getting my UC paid in two halfs each month, one at the start of the month and one two weeks in, meaning I'm less likely to run out towards the end of the month (unless it's a five week month lol).

Before that, I used to take cash out of my account on payday and save it in mini envelopes with their different purposes/tasks and use/pay by dates on them - something I learnt from my autistic uncle growing up, who said it was the only way he could make sure that he didn't forgot bills or over spend in mistaken excitement (nothing worse than thinking you've got an extra chunk of change in your account only to realise later on, or after you've spent it, that a bill didn't go out as expected), if its all in pre-organised envelopes that one less thing to worry about, it can really reduce (or atleast help manage) the stress and anxiety that comes from being on benefits and/or low income.

Then in the run up to xmas' and birthdays, in the past when my kids were smaller, I'd save money as cash in a pot safely tucked away in my bedroom (cos trying to save up in my account meant it would be easily spent on groceries or bills without realising). But when they were little it was easier to find stuff they're interested in in physical stops, and easier to spend as cash. These days most of what kids want for gifts are only available online, heck even if you have good array of shops in your town, most non essential items are much cheaper online. So saving my money as cash doesn't work as well anymore, as more and more goods and services are online.

I tried saving as vouchers for the shops that sells the things my kids are interested in, but it got super fiddly with all the codes and some shops, especially tech and toy shops, only let you use so many vouchers in one transaction. So that became unfeasible as a saving option for Xmas and birthdays.

I still use vouchers for my local supermarket, to save for use around xmas, easter and summer holidays. Using vouchers for saving can be useful for groceries as supermarkets don't have a limit on how many vouchers you use in one go, or my local supermarket doesn't at any rate, and I can use them online (cos my disabilities mean grocery shopping is an online task for me these days, I seldom grocery shop in store anymore). So for groceries saving as vouchers works better than saving as cash or trying to save in my bank account pot.

To try and help me manage my money better in an increasingly online and cashless world, I opened a second bank account (I refer my bank accounts as pots cos I normally use literal pots or jars for cash saving lol). One pot, my main account, is the account my benefits are paid into and the pot I use to spend and/or save for non essential items. So things like kids pocket money, treats and gifts, non essentials like paracetamol or moisturiser, and things kids need as they need them, such as gloves or shoes, etc. This is also the pot that'll buy vouchers to save from.

My second pot is exclusively for paying bills and groceries. Each payday I transfer from my main pot to this pot what's needed for the bills that month and what's my allocated limit for groceries each payday. Which works grand so long as I'm not given a surprise overcharge for some service - which is mercifully rare these days but only cos I learnt the hard way and found ways to prevent that from happening again. EG finding which services have the ability to set a limit/lock i.e. my phone and internet now have a £0 spend limit outside of the contracted usage terms. I also won't set up gas n electric as direct debit anymore, even if it is supposed to the cheapest payment option over the couse of a year, cos in the past I've had providers take suddenly massive amounts, only to say it was a system error and refuse to refund, saying it'll come out of future bills and leaving me short on money for other bills or food that month.

In the last 4 years that's happened three times, twice with British Gas (then I switched cos didn't trust them anymore), then once with Eon (and I switch to another new provider cos didn't trust it wouldn't happen again), after which I stopped paying by direct debits. I've reminders in my phone to log into my bills account each payday to pay by transfer. For a lot of low income households, direct debit isn't a safe payment option.

This is a long way of explaining why I prefer cash and some the steps that some low income families often have to take to navigate online spending on tight budgets, where cash isn't an option for payments.

Unfortunately, with my mental health and how it impacts memory, impulsivity, confusion and causes brain fog, etc. I sometimes get confused, forgetting how much of the money saved in the banking pots is earmarked for different purposes/task, cos with online banking there's no ability to add notes or tabs to manage the money (how great a service would that be for online banking, to be able to organise your money into purpose/task tabs). I do make a monthly list of expenditures, with dates and purposes, and set up reminders on my phone to correlate to those payments but that's a lot of extra steps I have to do each month, that I wouldn't need to take if I could do it all as cash in clearly organised and labelled envelopes.

In a way, the envelope cash system is a preemptive money management system, as it prevents over spending and reduces stress and anxiety.

Where as keeping an expenditure check list each month is less preventative and more stressful, cos of the extra steps involved (practice makes is a quicker task each month but still fiddly, especially as on benefits payday is different each month, depending in what day it falls on, and that impacts bill payment dates too), and you have to hope you dint loose it during the course of the month lest you forget what's earmarked for what within the pots. And having your life, especially your financial life, on lists can get depressing, embarrassing and/or stressful.

Random scenario example: say I've bumped into the friend I've not seen in ages while in town. She wants to go to a cafe and have a catch up. I've got some mental maths to do quickly. If I have the pre-emptive envelopes then I know I'll only have the ones relative to that's days spending needs on hand (the other envelopes are kept in a locked box at home until needed), so can just check my purse to see if I have the pennies for a tea. But these days, without the cash preemptive system, I would have to check my bank app, in front of my friend (so risking ridicule or embarrassment or awkwardness), then try to quickly calculate how much would be left in the pot after what I can remember is earmarked, to see if I have the pennies to go with my friend to the cafe or not. Now imagine that for every financial decision one needs to make as a low income parent everyday. From small things like "should we bus home from school now that it's pouring down?" To biggest costs like "how much longer can my kid wear these shoes before I HAVE to replace them?". To one I know most folk are struggling with a lot this month if "should I turn the heating on or not".

Using cash would be my preference, if it were a viable option, which it isn't anymore. I still use the envelope method when I can, as its less stressful for me cos I don't get as anxious (when it's all online I'm constantly checking my app to monitor my spending), so using envelopes and cash is more relaxing, and I still use it when I can for things I know I can pay cash for.

Like next week I'm going to a city three bus rides from my home (it'll take 2.5-3hrs to get there and same to get back, traffic depending, which is funny to me cos I live right next to the train station in my town and only a 15min train ride to the city, but bus is WAY cheaper, by bus it'll be £12 there n back (£2 for each bus), but train is £20-30 return ticket depending on time of day, so bus it is - plus bus will take cash) to meet some Facebook friends for a coffee and Xmas card exchange. My last payday I put £22 in a mini envelope, £12 for the buses and £10 for coffee when there. I'll take some sarnies and snacks with me for lunch, of course I'll have my card with me in the day, in case in emergency, but I'll limit myself to only spending what I have in cash, it helps reassure me that I'll not touch the pennies I'm trying to save for my kids Xmas in my bank pot and that I won't spend the money needed for that trip when I do this weeks groceries either, cos they're not in the same pot. Having my spending limit as cash in my hand means I can relax and enjoy my friends company without anxiously checking my banking app or possibly embarrassing myself.

So, I think all businesses that offer essential and day-to-day goods and services should always have the option of cash or cashless. Going cashless only really works for people who don't have to worry about their spending, it's so easy to over spend when you cant physically see the money you're spending.

Plus there are plenty of people with disabilities, or who are inexperienced with tech due to age/learning difficulties/other reasons/etc. for whom cash is the way that works best for them. And there are some people for whom cashless is what works for them. Neither is wrong, it's all about what method works for each person.

Realistically, until a whole generation of children have come through school with adequate online money management education (which will most likely be gen Beta - Gen Alpha is getting some online money management education but its weak and relatively new as a topic for education) then there's no point making the economy fully cashless, as that would penalise some of the most vulnerable.

I know many elderly folk who's education was in the 1940/50/60s in the poor North of the UK, who weren't given the same level of education we take for granted these days - we've really forgotten how new free nation wide standardised education is in the UK, and how massively the world has changed since our elderly were our children's ages. I know at least five elderly folk in my community who cant read or write, they were taught to just to work in the mines or factories, some bible education and how to sign their names. They can't go cashless, they are already struggling to pay bills as is, as most essential bills have gone paperless and online nowadays. Most of them use the post office to pay bills which has become increasingly unreliable for them.

And there are many other folk with various difficulties around online spaces, phones and cards, etc.

Businesses may be ready for a cashless economy, but society isn't. It's on the path to one for sure but we're not there yet. It's too soon from a sociological standpoint, maybe by the time gen Beta are entering the workforce it would work but not right now, not when so many vulnerable adults are already struggling to make ends meet as it is.