My co-worker was on the phone with her husband the other day. Apparently he was at BJs and had a lot of stuff at the check out line. When he was ready to pay, his debit card was declined. Just imagine that feeling: a long line of people waiting behind you, you with your month’s worth of groceries on the conveyor belt and your card doesn’t go through. Eventually the cashier put his items aside, and my co-worker’s husband called the bank and resolved the issue.

This isn’t a problem that I foresee facing. I carry 4 credit cards and a debit card. If I were at BJs (even though I can’t stand going to wholesale stores because of the lines) and my debit card or credit card was declined, I would whip out another card. So here are the credit cards that I generally carry and why:

Sallie Mae Mastercard– I like cash back and I get 5% cash back at the supermarket and the gas station with this card (up to $250 spend each month). I generally go to the gas station and the supermarket multiple times a month so it makes sense to carry this card with me. Plus, if I’m going to spend money there, might as well earn some cash back.

Rotating 5% cash back card– this will either be the Discover It Card or the Chase Freedom card. The rotating categories usually include, among other categories, home improvement stores, restaurants, and supermarkets. I’ll carry the card depending on whether the category includes stores that I frequent.

Target Red Card– Yes, I’m a fan of Target and I work near a Target store so I often do my shopping there. The Target Red Card gives me 5% off (not cash back).

Bonus Card– I don’t travel hack like many other bloggers do, but I do like to take advantage of some great credit card bonuses sometimes. If there is a great offer, then I’ll carry that card to meet the spending requirement.

Bank Debit card– I don’t generally use debit cards because I don’t earn any cash back. However, if I go to Aldi’s then I’ll use a debit card as they don’t take credit cards. I also carry my debit card because it’s also my ATM card if I want to get cash.

I know some people don’t carry credit cards at all because they know that they’ll overspend if they use credit cards. That’s fine. To each their own. So what would you do if you only carry one debit card and it didn’t work?

And for those who use credit cards, how many do you carry with you? I’m not asking how many credit cards you have (I know many credit card churners have A LOT), I’m asking how many you carry with you on a day-to-day basis.

Awhile back, I posted a similar topic, How Much is in Your Wallet, where I asked how much cash you guys carry and learned that I was in the minority in that I carry a decent amount of cash with me. It seems like most people don’t carry much cash if any. I thought about that topic this past weekend. We went to an aquarium and parked in the parking lot. We left at closing time so, of course, there were a lot of people leaving at the same time and ONLY ONE cashier. It was a $10 flat fee which makes me wonder why they didn’t just make you pay in advance. Anyway, there were multiple lines formed to get out and a very slow cashier. One thing that slowed the cashier down even more was that many people were paying with credit cards! They needed the cashier to swipe the card, hand them the slip, sign the slip and then open the gate! I gave him a $10 bill and was on my way.