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Money bills - folded, straight, crunched?


Night Elf
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I am amazed at how many women have unorganized wallets. They've got their money crunched up just stuffed into their wallets with receipts. Usually they don't even know what they have until they start pulling bills out one by one and straightening them as they hand them to me, although not everyone even does that. I keep my bills straight, in numerical order, in my wallet. I keep receipts in a pocket of my purse not stuffed into my wallet. What about you? How do you handle your bills?

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I can start out organized, but if I'm doing a lot of shopping, it falls apart. There always seems to be pressure to pay for your purchase and then get out of the way, so I often just shove the change and receipt into my wallet or purse to straighten out later. When I go to the next store everything is out of place.

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My main wallet has bills folded in half by denomination and goes to the zipped compartment. It’s too “short” for twenty dollar bills to be unfolded. Receipts go where dollar bills usually goes in continental wallets.

My gas money coin pouch has two twenty dollar bills just for paying for gas by cash. Gas stations here often have card skimmers and they give discounts for paying by cash. Forty dollars would get us to full tank. 

My petty cash wallet would have dollar bills folded in quarters by denominations and coins. The petty cash is used for vending machines, and when the cash only line is much shorter at small stores. It basically holds the money for wants rather than needs.

My husband would keep the dollar bills in numerical order in his bifold wallet but he rarely has more than six dollar bills, and rarely has more than $20 in his wallet. He pass all receipts and coins to me. If he is out alone then coins and receipts gets shaft into his briefcase’s front zipper pocket or his jacket’s zipped pocket.

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If I ever have money in my wallet, I try to keep it organized. Sometimes I end up fishing around for a crumpled bill at the bottom of my purse.  But that's pretty rare as I generally use a card.

I did teach my kids not to give cashiers crumpled up money.  

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I don't keep cash in my wallet, but in my pocket.

But, I do fold bills together into fourths, and if I have time, I put them in numerical order, with the 1s on the outside.  (The 1s on the outside to give any potential snatchers the impression that what I have isn't worth the risk of snatching.)

Receipts, if I keep them, get stashed in some other pocket until I can put them in a better place.

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I usually have a bit of cash on me.....long ways, in order of denomination, all facing the same way 🙂

Then I also have a $20 bill in a hidden compartment for an emergency.  I have used it maybe 1-2 times over the past 25 years but then replace right away.  It is always nice to know you have a bit of cash if you get in a bind.

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I typically drop everything into my bottomless purse and hope for the best. Some times, if I have my wallet handy, I put them back in there., where they belong. Bills start out in my wallet when I get a pile of cash from the bank, but they rarely return to my wallet when I get change/etc. I'd say 80% of my bills live in my wallet at any given time, with a few more floating around anywhere in my purse and pockets. Big bills are more likely to make it back to the wallet vs the bottom of the purse. But big bills are often lost in pants or jacket pockets when I stash the "emergency $40" when going somewhere w/o a purse. When I can't find enough money in the bottomless purse, I get more cash at next opportunity. At any given moment, I could have $20 to $300 (occasionally more) cash in my purse, and I rarely know how much more than maybe a $200 window. I notice if I run low on green bills, but I never actually know how much. 

Receipts get stuffed wherever. If it's a really important one, I put it in my wallet where paper money is supposed to be. If it's not important, I do my best to toss it in the trash ASAP. Middle-importance receipts are the ones that tend to float around in my purse until I clean it out (every 3-12 months). By then, usually they're destroyed enough to go ahead and throw away. 

My mom once bought me a new purse to get me to clean out my purse. This was a few days after she watched me have to dump my entire purse on the floor to find my car keys to get us home from the theatre. (That isn't a rare occurrence.) I know my purse is a mess. Whatever. It's fine with me. 

I would think you are a bit neurotic (nicely) to keep your cash and receipts so organized, and I suppose you'd think I'm neurotic to be as messy as I am. Personally, I believe there is a WIDE WIDE middle ground of reasonable tidiness/messiness and I'd guess that as long as we're each functioning effectively and happily, it's all good. If it makes you miserable, change it up. 

 

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My twenties are folded in half and kept together. The other random bills are just loosely folded and in no specific order. I pull out a twenty at a time and that turns into the random bills.  No order. No direction. Just casually hanging out like some good friends until one has to say goodbye! It would look disorganized to someone else, but it is quite organized to me.  If I want to know how much money I have (for example if I am wondering if I need more money from my debit card), I usually just count the twenties because I know the combined other bills are somewhere less than twenty dollars. 

I use my cc for almost everything except times where my card is going to leave my sight. I try to pay cash at most restaurants, drive thrus etc. 

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Before I get in line I dig through my purse for the approximate amount I'll need.  This way I can flatten my bills and put them in order and give the illusion of not having a purse full of crumpled bills and receipts.

If I miscalculated then everyone gets to see me peer into my purse looking for another bill.

If I decide to use change it works like this: "I think I might have the change" I say as I jam my hand into one side of the bottom of my purse and then shake the contents of my purse toward my hand.  Once I feel a handful of coins I draw out my hand and quickly hand over the change.  I have become very quick at this process so no one is annoyed to be behind Mary Poppins rooting around in her bag.

Thank you all for merely being surprised and not judgemental!  I don't know why I have purse issues but I've learned to be nice to myself about it!

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I have a folded up $20 for emergency type things in a pocket.

I don't use a lot of cash generally, but when I do I crumple/stuff with receipts in my purse, and it is a mess. My purse/bag is a mess in lots of ways though--money is the least of it. I guess that probably says something about me or my life?! 

Edited by sbgrace
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3 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I usually have a bit of cash on me.....long ways, in order of denomination, all facing the same way 🙂

Then I also have a $20 bill in a hidden compartment for an emergency.  I have used it maybe 1-2 times over the past 25 years but then replace right away.  It is always nice to know you have a bit of cash if you get in a bind.

I did this for each one of our children.  As a right of passage when they get their driver’s license, I gave each a $20 bill for emergencies with a lifetime (of mine=) replacement guarantee, no questions asked.

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3 minutes ago, Familia said:

I did this for each one of our children.  As a right of passage when they get their driver’s license, I gave each a $20 bill for emergencies with a lifetime (of mine=) replacement guarantee, no questions asked.

I love that idea!!

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My dh keeps his perfectly organized, all facing the same direction, in increasing order, etc.  🙂

My problem is that I don't have a wallet anymore, just a small purse.  The purse already has slots for credit cards which I love, but no good place for actual cash.  So it starts out kind of folded up and neat, but over time gets mixed up and wrinkled.  I don't carry much cash though either, maybe a ten and a few ones.  It's my coffee money.  My dh still likes to pay for a lot of things with cash.  I think he feels it's easier to keep track of what he spends.  (He's probably right!)

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I have a wallet and keep my bills straight in numerical order.  All of my credit cards are organized, along with medical cards.  I also have room to keep all of my receipts neatly together and never have trouble finding anything I need.  I need a certain style of wallet to be able to do this and found mine at Target.

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If I use cash I always feel so much pressure to get out of the way and let the next person check out that my change gets put into my wallet with the receipt and it's eventually a jumbled mess. Flat, not crumpled, though because bills only fit in there if they are flat.

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I didn't mean to offend anyone. It's just as a cashier, I see how the crumpled money organization does hold up the line. The customer is looking into her purse, into every fold of her wallet, maybe 2 wallets. Picking each pocket of her purse. With each find, it's usually a dollar bill or maybe a five dollar bill, folded up with a receipt around it. Then they say they have the change and proceed to check all pockets again before going to the bottom of their purses. They almost always apologize for holding up the line but I just tell them it's fine, take their time. I'm certainly not going to be rude about it. We only have one cash register in our store though so there's no moving to another register. The funny thing is when I see someone with 2-3 one hundred dollar bills looking for singles and change. I wouldn't want to break a $100 bill either so I can understand why they'd rather search for smaller bills. I'm just always amazed someone carries that much cash. 

I only use cash for buying lunch for my daughter. If I do feel rushed in a line, I put my money folded in my wallet and then when we sit down at the table, I straighten it. 

And fwiw, I have to keep all the bills in my register drawer in the same orientation. My manager likes that too but she faces her bills to the right and I like mine to the left. So when I put the drawer in the register, I have to rearrange the bills to my liking. 🙂

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I’m that person. I made a zippered pouch to hold my bills and receipts- it’s long enough to store bills not folded. When I shop, all the receipts go there. When I restock my cash supply I remove all the receipts and start over. But yeah, when I haven’t cleaned it out in a couple of weeks, receipts get mixed in with cash and it’s disorganized. 

Part of the problem is when I use cash I”m handed back my change and receipt together so I just stuff them in the pouch together. I feel rushed because ‘my turn’ is over. 

I will say that I always know what cash I have- I’m pretty aware of whether I have any ones in there or just a five and a twenty. 

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20 hours ago, Night Elf said:

I am amazed at how many women have unorganized wallets. They've got their money crunched up just stuffed into their wallets with receipts. Usually they don't even know what they have until they start pulling bills out one by one and straightening them as they hand them to me, although not everyone even does that. I keep my bills straight, in numerical order, in my wallet. I keep receipts in a pocket of my purse not stuffed into my wallet. What about you? How do you handle your bills?

 

it...it sounds like you already know how I handle my money......

lol seriously though, I start off very clean and organized, but I try to fit stuff in, take stuff out, my keys get pushed in and make things crumpled, my phone slides between a bunch of previously organized stuff, the baby opens it and decides to redecorate and then I'm just stuffing stuff back in while tugging it away from her, etc. I rarely use cash so normally this doesn't affect the cashier. But definitely the few times I try to put stuff back in nicely I get the annoyed/impatient vibe of "do that somewhere else", and of course once out of sight out of mind, soo......

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I keep mine straight and in my wallet. I usually get about $60 in cash every few months, I use the debit card most of the time. My receipts go in a pocket on the outside of my purse. I enjoy carrying  a small wallet and a small purse, so organization is really needed to pull it off. My purse has my wallet, Advil, reading glasses, a tampon & a tube of lipstick. There are two outside pockets - one holds a pen & my phone, the other is for receipts and other misc. pieces of paper that I think I need to keep. I clean out that pocket about once every two weeks.

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We're back to using more cash to reign ourselves in and meet some financial goals. I always, no matter the reason for getting cash or how long or short a time I'll have it in my possession, straighten out bills, put them in numerical order, and make sure they're all facing the same way. 

I keep my receipts separate from the cash. 

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The trick to ironing things that are plastic - as I've learned from handling multiple bent bank cards and Metrocards in my life - is to carefully put a layer between the iron (on low heat!) and the plastic. I use a thin dishtowel, but some people swear by a bit of cardboard. I don't know for sure if you can use this with Australian dollar bills, but google assures me that it is possible provided you use a LOW heat. Test it at your own risk.

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I don't carry cash at all unless I'm going to the hairdresser or dog groomer, and then I just put the exact amount in the outside pocket of my purse. I don't even carry a wallet, I just have a small cardholder. I usually put receipts in the bag with whatever I'm buying, and if it's something I need to hold onto it for a while, I stick it in a drawer when I get home. 

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