Cash stuffers
On platforms like TikTok, hashtags such as #cashstuffing have been viewed more than a billion times, as new generations enter the workforce and begin to experiment with different budgeting techniques. For those unfamiliar, “cash stuffing” is simply a rebrand of the time-honored practice of separating notes and coins into different envelopes designated for specific expenses, and the physical approach to fiscal matters is having a real moment with Gen Z specifically.
Psychologists have long understood the mental gulf between spending “digital money” and actual cash — with consumers tending to spend with more reckless abandon when the payment method is less tangible. There’s a reason casinos all use chips: it detaches their customers from the idea that this is real money they’re using and, oftentimes, losing. Cash helps to ground things, and Gen Z seemingly can’t get their hands on enough of the stuff, with 23% adopting it for the majority of purchases and 69% using it more than they did last year, according to a 2023 Credit Karma study.
Cryptocurrency promised an even further level of abstraction from digital dollars, a dream that — so far — hasn’t made it much beyond El Salvador’s experiment to use Bitcoin as legal tender.
Loose change
Ever since the 2nd US Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the US Mint and officially recognized the dollar as the American currency of choice, the country’s relationship with money has been a complex beast. Whether you’re in the 62% of Americans who believe that a bigger bank balance leads to more happiness, or count yourself in the 90% who say that finances impact their stress level, the chances are that money’s never far from your mind.
The logical conclusion is that physical cash is likely to disappear over the next 100 years. But, when the youngest, most digitally native, generation is experimenting with old-timey methods of saving money like cash stuffing, it suggests we’re not quite ready to give up the dollar in our pocket just yet.
