I can attest to the Willis testimony of paying everything with cash. There was a time when

[JohnSJ]

my father would only pay with cash.

Regardless of background, there is a generation, especially those who went through the Great Depression, who would pay most things with cash, and always keep cash around for emergenies.

[DemMedic]

1. Agreed

100%

[WhiteTara]

2. I still keep cash on hand.

[CrispyQ]

3. I'm known among family & friends to be one who always has cash.

It came from years of dating before cell phones & credit cards everywhere.

[ms liberty]

4. It's something black people do, and women do too

You need to have cash money or possessions that can be quickly and easily converted to cash. Why? You never know when you might need to move quickly and quietly.
Editing to add, black people that I know anyway, especially the women. Maybe it's more of a woman thing?

[FreeState]

5. Im in my young 50s and my partner gets mad if I don't have cash

I'm in my young 50s and my partner gets mad if I don't have cash. He often pays for things with cash that I would have just used my bank card for.

[Raven123]

6. I don't attend local high school sports events because they don't take cash

After the pandemic, they went to an electronic payment system with it’s built in “convenience “ fee.

[MineralMan]

7. My Dad always had a $100 bill in his wallet.

Always. So, I do, as well. I think the one in there now has been there for at least 6 months.

[obamanut2012]

11. I always keep $60 in twenties in my billfold

I rarely need cash, but just in case.

[Bettie]

8. I squirrel away cash

whenever I can. Grew up poor (welfare/food stamps poor)....small enough household income that I got a Pell grant for college, well for the first year anyway, then Reagan began chipping away at higher education.

So, now, I have some cash that I keep handy. Just in case.

[ripcord]

9. I work in cannabis

The entire industry is cash and you wouldn't believe some of the amounts.

[obamanut2012]

10. My parents are in their 70s and still love keeping oodles of cash in their billfolds

They are not struggling at all, and have debit cards and credit cards, but both have about $500 on them at any time... and, until about three years ago, they kept almost 30K IN CASH in a small safe under floorboards in the little under the stairs "Harry Potter" closet. They moved, so God knows where they keep it now.

I know folks Fani's age who also keep several thousand dollars in cash hidden in a safe, and often get wads of cash out for vacations, so they can get discounts for services.

[Attilatheblond]

13. When my nephew's British great grandmother passed and he helped close up her home...

He stopped packing her books when he came upon one he loved having her read to him when he was a little boy. He thumbed thru the beloved book, and came upon a $20 bill. Flicked some more pages, and found more money tucked inside. Gave his other auntie a heads up and she chuckled, then turned the book in her hands upside down, low and behold, several bills came out.

They started randomly grabbing and shaking books. Money rained down. They pulled out the books already packed up, and went thru them. At the end of the day, they had found over $30k tucked in books. Then the auntie decided to check out the boxes of handbags they had packed up. More cash! And a mess of coupons for items the grand old dame liked.

His great-grams had grown up in England, and during the Blitz and knew cash on hand was safer than putting it all in a bank that could be blown to smithereens. It was the habit she maintained when she married a 'yank and moved across the pond'.

[obamanut2012]

17. What a nice surprise for them!

That is very clever.

[Attilatheblond]

31. The old girl always kept some gin in the house too

You can bet my nephew and his other auntie raised glasses and toasted the brilliance of British Grannies.

[Attilatheblond]

12. Girls/young women used to carry 'mad money' just in case

Out with a man who turns out to be less than a gentleman? Mad money can get you home in a hurry (if you live where there are taxis) This was, of course, well before Uber accounts.

Having cash on hand is NOT uncommon for a lot of people. To make it seem unusual in Fani Willis's case is pure racism, misogyny, and a clear attempt at character assassination, not unlike the crap about 'looking like a drug deal' Rudy Giuliani tried to use against Miss Ruby and her civic minded daughter when the mother was giving the daughter a "ginger mint".

[Hekate]

22. What my mom always told me when I was growing up: a girl should carry some mad money on a date

What? They don’t do this any more?

[Attilatheblond]

30. Since I am WELL past the stage of being a 'girl' at age 70+

I dunno whether or not it's still a thing. Thinking not, and so many urban females have Uber accounts and plastic money.

I still carry $ and it saved me when my car broke down and the dealer sent a tow truck that didn't take plastic.

[LeftInTX]

34. I'm 67 and my life is now plastic. It's due to many things. Not my choice.

Cash is now a hassle. Where do I get it..LOL?

Going to the bank is a hassle, I don't have an ATM card.

If I need cash, I have to write a check "over the amount" at the grocery store. Maybe I could get cash back from my credit card?? (Duh, I don't know)

I was check, cash and credit cards before Covid, but now it's all plastic. It's due to various other factors. Last straw was home remodelers. We kept no cash because they had substance issues. That was last year.

Cash is really a hassle for me.

But really this is her business and her life. If it works for her, it's her business. If they are trying to trace financial transactions related to her profession etc. or use of public money, it becomes an issue if cash was involved.

[Demsrule86]

45. I always carried money...and once in Highschool a boy got to handsy and wasn't listening

so I got out of the car and called a cab at a payphone.

[unc70]

14. Cash was king when I grew up

I'm a 75yo white male, grew up on a farm in eastern NC. In the 1950s and later, there were almost no credit cards and businesses rarely accepted out-of-town checks. My mother eventually got one of the first bank cards for "safety" reasons, but rarely used it. She carried far less cash than my father.

My father always had several hundred dollars with him, back when that was a lot of money. Occasionally he had far more. I remember once riding with him after harvest while he went to various vendors to settle his accounts. Fertilizer, fuel, etc. paid all in cash. $8,000.

By the mid 1960s, we were using checks for more transactions, but cash was still important.

[Demsrule86]

15. Also, those raised in a depression as my parents were...always kept money in the house and

didn't trust banks. My husband's parents Irish immigrants did also. I still do as well...one never knows what might happen.

[JohnSJ]

16. Yes. I remember my father had a money clip which contained the bills.

[LeftInTX]

24. Fani could be my daughter..LOL But really, it's her business, not about our parents

I never have cash anymore.

I don't know what the big deal is, unless they are implying something.....

[Demsrule86]

44. I keep money in the House. My Dad always said to and he lived through the depression.

Imagine going to the ATM and it didn't work...none did or there was a run on the banks. Sure with the FDIC you get money back but it could take a year or more. I keep cash. It is handy when kids come around and want to mow your lawn or shovel your snow too...hate doing both of those things.

[Igel]

18. They didn't have much choice.

There weren't credit cards available--just revolving accounts at some stores.

In the '60s my mom had little metal plates in her purse for Hochschilds and Hutzler's, two department stores near where we lived. Visa? Mastercard? Nope. Otherwise, cash and carry. (Or checks, if you had a checking account. I was part of the checkbook generation--no credit card until I was 26 or 27, but carried little cash, carried checkbook.)

So, you're saying Wade and Willis were born in the 1920s or before?

[Hekate]

23. No, but their parents were

[LeftInTX]

26. It's really none of our business, unless they are implying that cash is being used because it can't be traced.

She just might prefer cash for whatever reason.

However, really can't compare to our parents' generation etc.

[Demsrule86]

46. You would be surprised even in this day how many Black folks face having checks or

credit card declined. I am not Black but I live in a diversified neighborhood. And my friend told me this. Frankly, I was shocked.

[Sogo]

19. Yep. They didn't trust the banks. Years ago, when an old farmer neighbor died,

they found cash stuffed under floorboards.

[peggysue2]

20. My father was the same way

He always had money stashed away in the house. When he bought a car, he paid cash. All high-end appliances or house improvements--cash. He never used credit cards because he would not pay interest fees. Cash, he said, was a negotiating tool or as has been said in other threads: Cash is King. He used the local bank as a business owner but never trusted banks in general.

He was a product of the Depression and never forgot.

Btw, when my father died, we found cash all over the place.

[GoodRaisin]

21. I think I'm going to go get some cash.

I haven’t used cash since Covid started. It’s much easier to use cash apps, credit cards, etc. that I don’t need to carry actual cash anymore. But, after listening to Willis yesterday, I’m finding myself rethinking about not having any cash on hand at all.

[LeftInTX]

25. Me too. I used to carry small amts, (change, tips, up to $20, etc) but around that time, poof.

Cash really became more of hassle during Covid, so I just gave up on it.

I paid check with everything I could. Cash at the drive in.
I mainly used credit card for gas, and places that didn't accept checks.
Now it's credit card.
(No debit for me)

My checkbook is becoming obsolete.

[GoodRaisin]

32. Checks are obsolete for me too,

unless it’s an e-check. Electronic withdrawal has done away with manual check writing. There is literally nothing I don’t handle electronically anymore for either deposits or withdrawal for bill paying. Small exchanges I handle with Zelle. I just simply don’t handle real money anymore unless it’s a gift for my grandkids birthdays, Christmas, etc.

[LeftInTX]

33. I don't do Zelle or anything like this. This credit card everywhere is new for me. It was always checks, checks, checks

It's weird how it changed so quickly. I was the oddball with the clunky checks. Then I bought a "too small" purse in 2021 and kept leaving my checkbook at home.

Then, we had major remodeling on our home last year and it really went out the window. My food consisted of lots of drive throughs because we didn't have a kitchen. We didn't trust the people who working and we hid stuff. I didn't keep any cash. They would lift petty stuff like our paint brushes, tape and small tools. We had to keep our screwdrivers, small tools, tape, scissors etc hidden. Both guys had substance issues. Hubby said don't keep any cash.

[shrike3]

37. I still have a checkbook because a few of the mom and pop stores I patronize don't take cards.

Service fees are too high.

[LeftInTX]

38. Most of the mom and pop places don't take checks around here. They were the first to stop.

[shrike3]

39. The explanation I get, "the fees are too high and we don't want to pass them along to customers."

It's a pain still having checks, but I do like to support these businesses. One is a multi-generational garden store that still has a u-pick.

[LeftInTX]

40. There are too many "hot checks" around here. Most take cash and card, but I rarely carry cash.

It's too much of a pain to obtain cash.

[ecstatic]

42. Right. Me too. Lol. nt

[bottomofthehill]

27. I still like cash

Drives my kids nuts. No venmo, Apple Pay, none of that crap. A pocket full of bills, 50’s, 20’s, 10’s….they hate it, although they loved it when they were in college. Every time they came home, they left with 86 bucks, they would get 1 of everything .

[live love laugh]

28. I have friends -- one family in particular -- who do almost everything in cash.

That seems unsafe to me but to them having online money seems unsafe. Both have risks.

[getagrip_already]

29. I always have a couple/few hundred on me....

I have always carried cash. I don't know why, I just do.

Part of it is privacy; I don't want every penny I spend tracked on a credit card. Part of it is respect for small businesses; why should they pay 5% to a bank just so I can use credit?

I pay my cards off every month anyway so I don't need the credit.

Never been robbed. Never had a problem.

But I don't see it as unusual.

[Jacson6]

35. I have no credit cards

I was visiting family in Phoenix, AZ last year and I took $400 cash with me. Well when I got to the airport the airline wouldn't take cash, only credit cards to pay for my baggage. The airport snack shop wouldn't take cash. The restaurant I took the family to wouldn't take cash. We went to the Phoenix stadium for a game and no one took cash either. Basically I ended up giving my cash to my family members that had a credit cards to reimburse them for everything.

[Delmette2.0]

36. I started using cash more often 40 years ago.

I didn't want my purchases at the liquor store showing up on my bank statements. It was never very much, but it was a regular purchase. Same for buying cigarettes.
I became a single mom and a there was lot of judgment about my purchases, from bank loans and even from people I thought were my friends.
There was no privacy then and even less now.

[ecstatic]

41. I think it's generational and regional

I'm originally from up North and so is my family. My mom is an immigrant. My parents never recommended that to me and I think I would have found the stash as a kid growing up. However, when it comes to friends and cousins and what not, it's probably something that would not be talked about (why would you mention a stash of cash?). So I can only speak for myself. Lol.

[moondust]

43. Fani's father explained in court today

that he was in Cambridge MA one day and a clerk would not take his American Express card or his Visa card or his traveler's checks. Only cash. Probably not the only time.