I don’t use cash anymore.

Or at least not so much as I did last year.  Everywhere I travel in the UK I tend to use a card to pay for things.  Although I still hold bills in my cash clip the notes are getting old and tattered as I very rarely use cash.  I’m using contactless (‘NFC’) a whole lot more.

This may be down to a couple of things: I don’t park using on-street meters a lot, the few times I park in a multi-story car park I pay using a card, and the coffee shops I frequent now take contactless payment pretty much everywhere.  In fact, I was so surprised at my local MacDonalds when they didn’t accept contactless for a burger recently that I was tempted to pay using an actual bank note.  My use of notes has receded for another reason: I mostly used them for paying for cab rides in the City but now take the London Underground in preference.

So my personal economy has gone cashless and now with the imminent arrival of Apple Pay into the European market I wonder how soon I will be using my phone instead of a card to pay?  I welcome it as taking multiple items (car keys, wallet, cash clip, mobile phone, laptop) as I travel bothers me and I typically do a ‘pat down’ of my clothes as I exit the office, exit a train, exit my home to check that I have my triumvirate of items.