I used to keep less than $20, but at the beginning of last year, I went on a new debt reduction and budget and used cash only for EVERYTHING. So now I have different envelopes of cash for each spending category. I don't carry all my envelopes all the time, but I think I usually have about $500 on me.

If my purse gets stolen, I may be out a lot of cash but they won't have any credit cards to rack up (just my Paypal debit card which has less than $100). And I spend a lot less cash than people who use credit/debit cards. It's just too easy to spend plastic than it is to spend cash.

By the way, using my new budget/debt reduction cash only plan, I was able to pay off the $16,500 balance on my minivan in just 10 months. If you new our income, you would know that was IMPOSSIBLE!